A Faded Smile
by Akai-neechan
Summary: Follow trough the life of a young Kunoichi, known as Hatake Akai. See her story, filled with surprises, secrets, happiness and sorrow. See the beginning and the end of a great ninja. OC Read and Review, please
1. Prologue

Author's note:

**Author's note:**

_Ok, this is my second FanFic, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to do everything to make it as good as possible. I've already got a few chapters written, but I will update once a week, so the updates will be regular. So, here's the prologue._

_**Important: I'm currently editing this FF – mainly style, spelling and grammar. I won't be changing anything regarding the plot, so even if you don't feel like it, you don't have to read it from the beginning. Every chapter having this statement is already edited. Thank you for your attention.**_

**Prologue: The Story Begins - My Beginning; Her End**

Fire - the flame tops licked the buildings throughout the village. _Everything_ was burning.

Death. The smell of rotting corpses hung above the place, bodies lying everywhere.

A single figure walking in the middle of the village. A tall woman with long brown hair, falling freely over her shoulders, and dangerous bistre eyes. A dark suit concealed her body, marking her as a creature of the night. Hard to pass by were the big wings decorating her back, currently still and waiting to be put to proper use. Another unique feature of her appearance were her hands – merging from human flesh to bird-like claws.

All in all, she had the usual animalistic features that every Demon had even in its human form.

She – the Rokubi no Washi (_Six Tailed Demon Eagle_).

In her rampage she had destroyed yet another village. But it had not been her fault - for some time now the humans, those pitiful creatures, had been trying to use her powers. They wanted her Chakura, her strength to settle down their own problems. How pitiful. Around her were the ruins of the village her last persuader had hidden in. Now he was dead along with the rest of them. That's what he deserved, anyway.

Suddenly her sharp hearing detected something. Was that… crying!? She thought she had killed everyone, not leaving a single soul to express its sorrow, but apparently she was wrong. Quickly the Rokubi turned around and headed towards the source of the sound. It didn't take her long to reach a burning building, a hospital from before her attack, where the sound was coming from. She went inside, not affected by the heath and the fires burning around her. After a moment or two spent in wondering around the ruined halls, she found the room where the crying was coming from. She entered through the open door to be greeted by a room, enlighten by the flames of hell with multiple bodies being burned to ash spread around in it. However the window was open and the smoke was not piling in the room, leaving some possibility for a human to survive. One bed was unaffected by the fire and that was exactly where the crying was coming from. As she made her way through the room the Demon found herself in front of that bed, and lying there was …

A baby… A small newborn girl, cuddled in red blankets, crying with all her might. The Biju (_Tailed Beast_) narrowed her eyes in annoyance.

'_**How could such a small creature make so much noise?'**_

It didn't matter anyway. The Washi was here to kill everyone in this village and wasn't thinking of making any exceptions. She raised her right hand with the clear intention of cutting through the baby's chest with her claws, but at that moment the kid stopped crying and looked at her. Crimson ayes met with bistre and the Demon's attack was held back. She didn't know what it was, but something in this little baby in front of her made her feel strange, almost… human… She stared at those eyes, as the baby was looking back with curiosity. Did it even realize what kind of a mess it was in? Probably not. It was too young to see such things.

The Rokubi stayed like that for what seemed to be a few minutes. Than a sudden crack alerted her of a burning piece of the ceiling falling down and made her act immediately. More on instinct than on real thought, the Demon shot her right hand foreword and caught the burning wood. The fire painfully licked her flesh, but she just shoved piece of towards the other side of the room. In a few seconds her arm had regenerated completely, not having a reminder of the burnt, but she didn't even care about that. Her eyes were beaming towards the baby, checking if there was any harm done to it. There was none. She sighted.

"**You're a lucky one,"** she said, looking at the child, and then smirked, **"And you can be of use."**

With those words the Rokubi reached foreword and got the baby in her arms. Than with a quick move she opened her wings and flew out of the open window seconds before the whole building collapsed. She flew for some time, not even caring how long, until she finally landed in the middle of a forest. She already knew what to do – everything was clearly thought out and she didn't have the slightest hesitation within her. She put the now sleeping baby on the ground and bit her thumb, drawing different seals on the ground with her blood. She had to reopen the little wound pretty often, since her Chakura didn't let the injury stay open, but she was done quickly.

During the last few years, the humans had become even more bothering than usual. Their wars had nothing to do with her, and neither did their lack of strength. However they continued bugging her, trying to capture her with all sorts of crazy Jutsus designed to take control over her and her Chakura. None were successful. And still, this had to end! And the one way the Demon saw, was to do what all they wanted to do to her, herself– to disappear from the world, locking her existence in the shell of a human being. And that was just what she was about to do.

She put the baby in the middle of the seals and caught its left hand, opening its palm. The small girl started to stir, but a quick paralyzing technique left her steady enough for the seal to be done. With that settled, the Rokubi used a little more of her own blood to do the marks on the girl's palm, and then went a little back.

"**Fuin Jutsu: Roku Icchuu Gokuin** (_Sealing Technique: Six Point Seal_)" the Demon called after making a hew handseals and slapped her right palm on top of the baby's left one.

Suddenly everything exploded in a blinding light and when it disappeared all the seals from the ground and the Rokubi were gone.

All that was left was a small baby crying in the middle of a circle of fire.

--

A ninja jumped from branch to branch, landing skillfully every time. His long silver hair fluttered behind him. Hatake Sakumo – the White Fang of Konoha was coming back from a mission.

He wasn't supposed to be in a hurry, though. The mission was a success and he had even finished it faster than expected. Well, there had been some problems on the way, but everything had been taken care of.

And despite of that, he was still rushing towards his village. He wanted to have a little rest, to see his wife and son again - he had been away for more than two months, after all. There had been a Chuunin Exam during that time and he knew that Kakashi had entered. He wondered if his son had become a Chuunin... That would be almost a miracle - the boy was hardly six years old… But considering what a genius he was, who his father was, and how young he started his career as a ninja, the son of Konoha's White Fang might have actually done it.

At that thought Sakumo quickened his pace. He really wanted to see Kakashi again, to ask him how everything was, to train him, to-

Suddenly, a hardly visible flash of light made him freeze in his place. Instantly he prepared to defend himself, but to his surprise nothing came. Than he realized that he could smell something… Was that smoke? Very carefully he started moving towards the place where the flash of light had come from, and soon he could hear crying. After another moment or so he found that the smell of smoke was coming from a ring of fire, and inside of that ring there was… a baby. A little baby girl, left in the middle of the forest alone. He quickly examined the place for traps and other ninja and after that went closer to her. He reached over the flames, but suddenly they exploded and burned his hand a little, forcing him to retreat his hand.

"Katon: Kaen Surikesu no Jutsu (_Fire Element: Flame Effacing Technique_)" he said after doing a few handseals.

He raised his right hand close to the fire and a small black sphere appeared in front of it, absorbing the flames. When nothing was left of the ring of fire, Sakumo dispelled the Jutsu and reached towards the baby again. Then something else made him stop. He wasn't that stupid! Konoha's White Fang concentrated his Chakura looking for any kind of Genjutsu, Henge no Jutsu or any other variations of traps there might be. There were none. When that was finally cleared out, he gently got the blanket wrapped girl in his hands and looked at her. She had stopped crying and was now staring at him with her wide ruby eyes.

'_What kind of a person would leave a baby in the middle of the forest…?' _Sakumo shook his head in disapproval. As he ooked straight at the baby a small smile crept on his lips. "You have the same eyes as her. The same as Takumis," he said. "She always said she wanted a girl."

With those words he started jumping from branch to branch towards Konoha, hugging the baby close to himself.

--

The Hidden Leaf Village was as noisy as ever. People were going up and down the main street, taking care of their own business, children were running around, screaming and laughing, the voices of merchants giving publicity to their goods were hanging above the crowd. Many different aromas surrounded everything, from the sweet smell of flowers at the Yamanaka Flower Shop, to the scent of ramen being cooked at Ichiraku's Ramen Stand.

Everybody was going their own way, hurrying to their destination, or walking slowly between the shops and no one seemed to notice the man, jumping from roof to roof in the direction of the Hokage Tower.

It wasn't long before Sakumo finally reached his destination. He landed on the ground and greeted the guards. They bowed a little and greeted him back with respect. He quickly passed them and went inside the building, heading towards the Hokage's office. Once there, he stopped in front of the door. Two ANBU units were standing on guard.

"Good day, Hatake-sama," greeted one of them, a man who was wearing a rat mask.

"Good day," answered Sakumo, "I need to talk to Hokage-sama as soon as possible," he added.

"I'll see what I can do," replied the ANBU and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

"What's that, Sakumo?" asked the other one, obviously a woman, wearing a cat mask, as she nodded towards the girl in his arms.

"What does it look like, Itami?" asked the white haired man in a joking tone, "Is the mask the reason you can't see, or are your eyes getting bad, because of the Sharingan?" he teased her, "It's a baby, obviously."

"Don't talk to me, like I'm an idiot, you cocky bastard!" she snapped back at him. "I can clearly see that it's a baby! What I'm asking is what, in the name of Kami, are _you_ doing with that baby!?"

Sakumo chuckled. His old Uchiha teammate was as short tempered as ever. It was really amusing to tease her like that. He remembered that she also had a kid – Obito, or something like that. He was Kakashi's age, but didn't show much interest in becoming a ninja… for now.

Sakumo just opened his mouth to say something, when the other ANBU appeared in a cloud of smoke and told him that the Hokage was waiting for him.

"Well, see you later, Itami. I have something important to do now," the Hatake said with a smile on his face.

"Next time, Sakumo!" the female ANBU hissed threatening, "Next time you won't be so lucky to have a baby in your hands!"

Konoha's White Fang answered her with a small nod, before passing her and the other guard. Pushing the door open he stepped into the big room. The Hokage was standing in front of his window, smoking his pipe, and looking over the village.

"Ah, good day, Sakumo," he said, turning around. "I see you have completed the mission quite a bit faster than I thought."

"Hai (_Yes_), Hokage-sama," said the man, "and I've returned with the report and… a favor to ask of you."

"Might that favor have anything to do with the baby in your hands?" Sarutobi asked calmly, sitting behind his desk.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," he said again, taking out his report and handing it to Konoha's leader.

For a minute or so the Hokage looked trough his report and than sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"So I see everything turned out fine. Now, about that favor you wanted to ask."

"Hokage-sama, I found this baby in the forest, on the west side of Konoha, on my way back from the mission. Following the rules I know I have to leave it in the orphanage, but with your permission, I'd like to take it with me and raise it as a part of my family."

The Hokage eyed him, and than the sleeping baby, than he opened the top drawer of his desk and tried to find something in there. After a moment or two, he took out a slip of paper and handed it to the man standing in front of him.

"Here is a document you and your wife have to fill to adopt the baby," he said finally.

"Arigatou (_Thank you_), Hokage-sama," Sakumo replied and bowed.

"You are dismissed," said the village leader and the white haired man left his office. "Go see your family; I'm sure they've missed you."

--

A young woman with long golden locks and warm crimson eyes was sitting in a beautiful bower, reading a book. She was in the front yard of a big mansion in the centre of Konoha. The fuzz on the streets was welcomed after the quietness of the house, which was inhabited by only her husband, her son, and herself. Sometimes it was lonely when both of them were on missions – being the wife of a famous ninja, and the mother of a genius was never easy. Just a few days ago her son, who was by the way still six years old, had reached the rank of Chuunin – something that was unbelievable for such a young age. Still, the boy was living up to it. However, she knew exactly what this meant – he was about to start going out on more difficult and longer missions, leaving her to worry sick for his father and him. But that's just how life was these days. A war was coming their way and Konoha needed all the Shinobi it could get… including six years old children.

At that time she, Hatake Takumi, was reading alone in front of the house, her son – Hatake Kakashi, was in the dojo, training, and her husband – Hatake Sakumo, out on a mission. One that had taken too much of his time, but neither of them could do anything about it.

A slight breeze messed up her hair a little. She raised her hand, out of habit, to sleek the rebellious locks, still not moving her eyes of the book. Suddenly a voice almost made her jump.

"It's been two months and you still haven't read that book?"

She looked up surprised, but a warm smile appeared on her face, as she saw her husband standing on the door of the fence. She put the book down and ran towards him.

"You're finally back! I was worried sick for you! You really should stop going on those long tern missions they're taking way too much of your time, and…"

At that moment the woman stopped talking, staring at what her husband had in his arms.

"What in the name of…" she started, looking shocked.

"Well, Takumi, remember, when you used to repeat again and again how you wanted to have a girl?" he said with a smile, leaning forward and kissing his wife on the check.

"But… Sakumo... Where… Where did she come from?" asked Takumi, startled.

"I found her in the woods on my way back from the mission. Someone abandoned her, I guess. And I could either leave her in an orphanage, or take her here. But you know I wouldn't make such a decision without you, so, what do you say?

The woman stared at the little girl. She had just awaken and looked at her sleepily. She didn't say anything for a few minutes, but than a kind smile appeared across her face and she reached towards the child, taking it in her arms.

"Now all we have to do is think of a name," she said.

"Otou-san (_Dad_)," came a yell from the house and a boy, not more than six years old with spiky silver hair and black eyes appeared on the front door, running towards his parents. Sakumo smiled at the sight of his son. "Otou-san, you're finally home! You know what!? I'm Chuunin now! I did it! I-" at that moment the boy seemed to have spotted the baby in his mother's arms and looked at is surprised. "Who's that?" he asked.

"Your sister," his father replied, wondering how Kakashi would react.

Like every six year old boy he looked very surprised and not understanding, but than he said, "Oh… Why is her hair… red?"

It sounded like a normal question every little boy would ask, but it said something to his parents. They looked at each other surprised and then smiled. His mother bent down towards him and kissed his forehead.

"Kakashi, do you know you are a genius?" she said with a smile.

"Hai. Otou-san says it all the time," the boy replied.

"That's true," his father said after a short laugh, and than turned towards the little baby. Putting his hand on her head he said in a soft voice, "Welcome to your new home, Akai (_Red_)."


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One: Awakening – Oto no Yosomono**

_Sights, noises, smells and feelings were surrounding her, none of them clear enough for her to understand. She was in the middle of all of this, trying to grab to something, to see it, hear it, smell it and feel it clearly. But all her efforts were in vain. The world was spinning around her, showing her incomprehensible peaces of the memories she once used to have. She could swear that between the many images she could see a blurry shadow of a person. She reached her hand. A little more and she could touch that shadow. But suddenly the world around her started cracking and than burst into peaces like a broken mirror. Blinding darkness and deafening silence surrounded her. There was only one thing that followed. A loud female voice cut through the nothing of her surroundings.._

_**"AKAI, RUN!"**_

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Red eyes snapped open. A young woman in her early twenties was lying in a bed in the middle of a small room. There were no windows, and everything was dark, but she knew it was morning.

She stayed like that for a minute or two, wondering about the dream she had just had. For yet another time. The same dream repeated night after night. What was all that about? She had a feeling she knew. Those were her memories, moments of her past, which she had sometime before treasured, now coming back to her, after they were absent for fourteen years. Her memory went back to this nights dream, thinking through the last voice. That last moment of the dream was sometimes different.

A few days ago she had seen an image in the place of that voice. It looked like an old photo. There were four people on it. On the left was a woman with long curly blond hair and red yes, who was smiling towards the camera. She was holding a little baby in her arms, wrapped in red blankets. On her right was a man, a little taller than her, who had put his right hand over her shoulders. He had silver hair, and black eyes. He also was smiling. His left hand was on top of a boy's head. The boy had the same hear and eyes like his. He didn't look like he was more than six, or seven years old. Both the man and the boy wore forehead protectors with the Leaf of Konoha on them.

The girl didn't know what all of this meant. Was it really memories? Her memories? Could it possibly be so that those people had been close to her? She recalled another picture that she had seen in one of those dreams.

This time the people were five. On the left there was a boy, maybe around thirteen years old sitting on the ground, with spiky black hair and orange goggles on his face. He was sticking his tongue out at the camera. Next to him a girl was sitting on her knees. She was about as old as him, with brown shoulder length hair and the same eyes. She was holding her hand in front of her mouth, probably laughing at the boy. Behind them was standing a young man. He had spiky blond hair. He was laughing at something with his eyes curved. His head was turned a little to the side, as he was facing a girl that was on his back. The girl was not more than seven years old with red hair tied in a plait and the same eyes. She was also laughing, showing two lines of white teeth to the camera. A little to the right, away from the group was a boy about thirteen years old with silver hear and black eyes. His face was covered by a mask. There was a serious look in his eyes and he was standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He looked annoyed to say the least.

There had been that one time, when the girl remembered hearing a different voice in her dream. It was a young male voice, and it had said, _"Those ninjas who don't follow the rules and regulations are called trash! That's how it is!"_

All in all those were all the things she knew about herself. About the life she had had before she reached seven years and her memories were erased. It had beer fourteen years since then and she had never known the truth about her past. That was the reason she clenched so hard on the images and sounds she saw and heard in those dreams. For she believed with all her heart that someday she would remember again, someday she would have a past, and maybe, who knows, even family and friends. Someday she would get out of this place, knowing exactly where to go… Or maybe not…

She sighed and rolled out of the bed. Using her Chakura she created a little flame and lightened the candles in the room. There was no electricity there, but the faith light that was coming from the candles was enough for her. She stood up. She was tall and slim with long red messy hair and the same eyes – Oto no Yosomono (_Stranger of the Sound_) the girl that had no past and no name. She had a strange mark under her left eye – the kanji for "memories". A mark, she had found out, that had appeared when the memory erasing Jutsu had been put on her. On the back of her neck, there was another mark – like a black tattoo, three comma-like shapes stood there, revealing the famous Cursed Seal.

The room was small and almost empty. There was a bed in one corner and a little desk with a few candles in it. A wardrobe was standing against a wall and next to it there was a door. She sat down on the bed and took her gaze down towards her left palm. She concentrated just a little Chakura and another seal appeared there - the kanji for six, surrounded by six little lines. The Roku Icchuu Gokuin that had been on her hand for all of her life. Well, at least that part she remembered. She then closed her eyes for a moment.

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In a second she was in a completely different place. It was a spacious room with blank walls and on the floor there was the same seal that was on her hand –In one corner of the room a dark figure was sitting. It was a woman with eagle wings on her back, brown hair and claws on her hands. She was sitting cross-legged with closed eyes.

'_You listening, Rokubi' asked_ the red haired girl.

'**What do you want, brat?' **came the annoyed response as the Demon opened her brown eyes and sent a glare to the one standing before her. She hadn't locked herself from the other humans only to be bothered by this particular one.

'_I know you can undo that stupid Jutsu. Just tell me how to do it and I'll leave you alone,' _continued Yosomono. Those talks were getting more and more annoying even to her with every day.

'**We've had this conversation at least a hundred times in the **_**last seven days**_** and my answer stays the same: your memories are **_**none of my business**_**! If you want them back, find out a way **_**yourself**_**, you week human! Go bug that overgrown snake or something like that! LEAVE ME ALONE!' **the Demon yelled at her and closed her eyes again. This was all too annoying; she was seriously starting to doubt that locking herself in here was such a good idea.

'_YOU'RE IMPOSSIBLE, DAMN YOU!' _the girl yelled and clenched her fists. How was it that the Rokubi managed to make her so angry _every single time_!?

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Yosomono opened her eyes again and narrowed them with annoyance. What was the use of that stupid Demon, when she refused to do the only thing the woman had ever asked her?

She sighed and got up from the bed. She went to the wardrobe and pulled her clothes out. She took out a red T-shirt and a long skirt in the same color with splits on both sides and a pare of red shorts. Quickly she put them on and tied her hair in a ponytail. Ignoring all her efforts one tuft of hair refused to stay in the ponytail and she finally tucked it behind her ear. With that done the girl went out in the gloomy hall.

It was a little brighter than her room, actually. Except for the fires burning in little caves in the walls there were a few 'windows' – holes in the roof that let a little bit of the day light to come in. The young woman quickly found her way to the bathroom and did her morning rituals. After that she went to the main room. It was big with a few tables and many chairs. Usually everyone came here to eat, and also to get their missions for the day. At that time the room was almost empty. Safe for Yosomono there was only one person there.

"Good morning, Yosomono-chan" greeted the young man. He was as tall as her with silver hair tied in a ponytail and round glasses. He was sitting on one of the tables with some food on it. "You're early this morning. Is there a reason or something?"

"Well, I don't know, Kabuto-kun. Is my first mission out of this Hell reasoning enough?" she smiled at the medic and sat on the table he was on.

"You really shouldn't talk like this. 'This Hell' is the only place you've ever had for a home, you know," said the spy in a calm voice.

"If I had another I'd be long gone, believe me, but that teme (_Bastard_) won't let me go out of here," replied the red haired girl, glaring for a second at the sealing.

"I wonder if I will still be alive the day you show some kind of respect towards Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto pushed his glasses still looking at her.

"Nope. That day will never come," said Yosomono with a joking voice.

"Well, you should keep in mind that he is the person that made you what you are," the young medic didn't give up on his little argument.

"Yeah, prisoners in this 'Hell-for a home'," she muttered and then added, "Why are you here anyway? Aren't you supposed to be in Konoha or something like that?" asked the woman, dropping the subject.

"I'm here to escort you on the way there. By the way, here's your mission," he gave her a slip of paper and an envelope.

Yosomono quickly read what was on the paper and opened the envelope. There were five reports. She looked at the information on the first one.

"Utatane Koharu!? Is this granny the one I'm supposed to kill? You must be kidding me! This isn't an A-rank mission; it's a D-rank! Every Sound _Gennin_ can kill an old lady without problems!" the girl protested aloud, glaring at the paper and the information written on it. "This is absurd! And I'm _supposed_ to be one of his best fighters! This is-"

"This is a highly ranked mission, which can become not only A-ranked, but S-ranked as well," interrupted her Kabuto, "As I see you don't have enough patience to read her whole information, so let me tell you that Utatane Koharu is a member of Konoha's Elders. She had also been a part of the Sandaime's old team, but that's not why the mission is so high ranked. Orochimaru-sama is fully aware that she will have guards and there's the tricky part. He does not have enough information on how many and who her guards are, but as an Elder she should be provided with good defense. So we are to believe that some of Konoha's strongest ninja might be in your way, and you should be sure not to underestimate… Are you even listening to me?"

The woman had frozen as she was staring at the second report. She looked strange – a little paler than usual and her eyes were focused on nothing else but the picture. A man with silver hair and a mask on his face was staring back at her from the paper. His forehead protector was on his proper place, revealing both of his eyes – right one black and left one red. The red eye had three coma-like black shapes in the iris. A bad scar had found its way right through his left eye, down towards the check.

"_Those ninjas who don't follow the rules and regulations are called trash! That's how it is!"_ The voice echoed in her head. She closed her eyes and shook her head, getting rid of those thoughts, pushing them to the back of her mind. The day was not the time to think about her past. The nights were just about enough for her.

"What's wrong?" asked Kabuto.

Yosomono looked at him and forced a smile.

"Who's that?" she asked as she brought her eyes back to the paper _'Hatake Kakashi…?' _

"That's one of Konoha's elites – Hatake Kakashi, also known as the Copy Ninja," Kabuto began, after a quick look at the photo.' "He's used the Sharingan in his left eye-"

"-to copy over a thousand Jutsus. I can read. I'm asking if you know something more that is not written in this report," the woman snapped. She was sure acting strange.

"I am afraid all I know is in there," was Kabuto's calm reply.

The girl took a quick look at the pages of the report, but unfortunately what she wanted wasn't there. _'Hatake… Kakashi…'_ she thought as she got an apple for a quick breakfast while she read the reports, _'Who are you?' _

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She had soon given enough attention to every report before her – the one of the person she had to kill and those on her assumptive guards. Safe for the Copy Ninja there was information about a Taijutsu master named Maito Gai, otherwise known as 'Konoha's Prideful Green Beast'; a Kinoichi – Genjutsu master by the name of Yuhi Kurenai; and a Shinobi, known for his use of Chakura knives, Sarutobi Asuma, the known son of the Sandaime Hokage.

After the examination of her potential enemies Yosomono went back to her room to get her weapons. It had become noisy at the mane room, but here everything was quiet. She knew she was supposed to just grab the katana and the kunai holster and get back, but she needed a few minutes to get her thoughts straight, so she sat on the edge of her bed. What had happened back there? Why had she had the feeling she had seen him somewhere... this Hatake Kakashi.

She remembered clearly the moment she had heard that voice for the first time. Once again it had been the last moment of one of those dreams in which images, sounds, smells and feelings were spinning around her. She had awakened right after the sound of the voice. And, although the same images and sounds often repeated in the end of those dreams, this one had appeared only then. And yet just minutes ago the voice had sounded in her mind as clear as though she was standing in front of the one saying it.

'_Could it be…'_ she thought, but then shook her head. _'No! I must be going crazy! From all the background I read about him, he doesn't sound like a person who would say such a thing… Anyway, there are more important things to worry about now.'_ She forced herself out of these thoughts, pushing the images and voices from her dreams behind. _'Now I have to get ready for the mission.'_

With that though she got up from the bed and opened her wardrobe. A katana was hanging on one of the doors. She took it and put it on her back, its handle above her right shoulder. After that she took her kunai holster and put it on her right leg. She quickly went through the weapons inside and got a few more shuriken. Then she exited the room and almost bumped in Kabuto who was just walking past the door.

"What took you so long?" he asked eyeing her from head to toe. "I was just about to check if you're in this or not."

"I had to take care of something. Besides, you know I'd take _every_ opportunity to get out of this Hell," she answered. "So, are we going or not?"  
"Why did you get so eager all of the sudden?" he smirked and than leaded the way towards the exit. Yosomono followed him quietly thinking about her first mission out of here.

She never knew why Orochimaru didn't want her to go anywhere, but orders were orders and as much as she hated them, she was stuck doing simple missions inside this damn place. They were usually stupid tasks that got to her nerves but there had been a few assault orders, for there were times Orochimaru found out about traitors in his group and it was her job to take care of them. And so she did. Quickly and quietly, not leaving a clue behind. She had experience in killing and even more in fighting and never hesitated in a battle. For, she knew that if you do that, you'll be death for sure. And death didn't sound so tempting to her.

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It was night and the village was quiet. No lights were on in this late hour, safe for those of the Hokage tower. There had been a meeting, because of the death of one of the proctors for the Chuunin Exam - Gekko Hayate, who had been killed the previous day. Everything around the Exam was getting very complicated after Orochimaru had appeared, and there had even been rumors that he might attack Konoha during the Third Exam which was even more bothering. The Elders had requested a meeting with the Sandaime to talk about the situation and try to find a way out of it.

For more than an hour Yosomono was sitting on one branch a little out of the streets of the village, looking at the tower. Even from this distance he could see what was going on thanks to Rokubi's Chakura which she had concentrated in her eyes. It was almost like a habit of hers to do it – either the eyes or years, depending on whether she wanted to see something in the distance or to hear a quiet noise. For the time being she was just staring at the shadows she could see at the window.

Than three of them disappeared, leaving the fourth person alone. The woman got up and put one hand on the trunk of the tree and concentrated on the place in front of the front gate of the tower. Not long after three people exited and separated, each on his own way. It was the time to strike.

'**The hunting's over. Let's kill the prey!'** the Demon's voice sounded in the back of her head.

She could almost see the sadistic smile on Rokubi's face in front of her eyes. She knew that one of the things the Demon enjoyed was killing. There was no real reason - it was just her nature to be twisted like that. Or so Yosomono thought.

She jumped from the branch, pushing Chakura in her feet and started running towards the unsuspecting victim. The elderly woman had gotten some room between the tower and herself, and was now crossing a small lane. It was in that lane that the red haired woman was thinking of killing her – a quiet and dark place where no one would get in the way. She speeded over the roofs and started getting nearer and nearer. She didn't make a sound – the unsuspecting victim is the easiest one to kill.

She was now really close, as she jumped on the last roof, taking hold of the hilt of her katana. In less than a second she landed on the ground, still moving, and taking her katana out with great speed, she swung in one time…

_**To Be Continued…**_

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_**Chapter Two: Silver and Gold – The Crash of Two Hatakes**_

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_The woman dodged a few more Shuriken. What the Hell was wrong with her!? She couldn't even concentrate! This battle was going from bad to worse and she had to think of something fast! She formed the familiar seals and yelled, "Katon: Kaji Bunshin no Jutsu (Fire Clone Technique)"…_


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two: Silver and Gold – The Crash of Two Hatakes**

The blade went through the air really fast and cut right through the body of the Elder. Yosomono than took a quick glance at it and used her Chakura to stop herself immediately, as she didn't see any blood. She wasn't surprised though. Konoha had never been famous with its weakness, so she didn't actually expect to do this so easily.

She then put the katana back in its scabbard on her back and straightened herself.

'**So things are finally getting interesting,'** sounded the voice of the Rokubi.

The red haired woman didn't actually like to kill. Yes, she liked fighting, liked getting stronger and all, but hated killing. It was one thing a Kunoichi shouldn't hate, but she did. She hated the idea of killing someone and so she tried to do it as fast as she could. That strategy usually worked, helping her not to worry about the murder before it was done, but now, it was clear that there was going to be a battle. And a big one indeed…

She closed her eyes for a second and then turned around. A big stone cut in two was now in the place where Utatane Koharu had been a moment ago. The Elder herself was standing a little to the side. In front of her was a ninja. And not just any ninja…

The woman's eyes flashed with little hesitation. From all the ninja in Konoha that could be assigned to guard an Elder she just _had_ to bump into this particular one! Oh, how unfair life was.

But anyway, her insurance couldn't be seen. So she smirked and looked right at the Jounin.

"I wonder… Since when did you know I was here? Was it from the time when I came, or when I started to move? Please, tell me, Hatake-san," she was trying to buy a little time to calm herself down and concentrate on her objective. She remembered the voice again but couldn't let it distract her in her fight. So she needed a little time.

"Does it really matter?" asked Kakashi back, as he was eyeing her, "The point is that you are here."

"True, true. Well than I guess you would be wondering why I'm here," good, he was helping a lot, without even realizing it.

"I believe you have made that clear enough. What I am wondering is who you are," the Jounin didn't take his eyes off of her, not dropping his guard for a second.

"Well then, I believe there's no harm in telling you, keeping in mind that you will die, after all Shinobi are not to leave witnesses after an assault, are they? As for who I am… You can just call me Oto no Yosomono."

"So, I've got myself a stranger, eh?" said the Konoha Jounin not looking very pleased by the answer. '_There's something about her... She looks so familiar… Could it be…? Masaka_ (_No way_)!'

Thanks to Rokubi's mind reading abilities Yosomono could hear his thoughts like he had said them out loud. That made her stiffen and stare at him for a second or so. '_Is he really connected to me by some way? Is it actually possible-What the...'_

Suddenly the world started spinning and in a second she felt like she couldn't move a single part of her body. '_Oh shit! A Genjutsu!? Where did that came from!? Fine then, concentrate!' _

It took her about a second to dispel the Genjutsu, considering that it wasn't a really strong one and she just opened her eyes when a kick met with her face.

"Dynamic entry!" yelled the man who had just kicked her. He was one of those she had read about - Maito Gai. '_So the one that cost the Genjutsu must have been-'_

Suddenly she felt danger and jumped up, dodging by centimeters a flying Chakura knife. She jumped in the air and landed to the left. This was really going bad. On her way here she had thought of a different strategy against each one of them, but all four in one time? How the Hell was she going to get out of that one?

The four Jounin were now standing in front of her as she was trying to keep sight of all of them at once. Than suddenly Kakashi got out of his defensive position.

"Gai, Asuma, Kurenai," he said, "Take care of Utatane-sama. Leave this to me."

"Nani (_What_)!? What are you talking about, Kakashi!?" exclaimed the woman.

"I need to fight her on my own, so please step aside, Kurenai," said the silver haired man. The other Jounin nodded like she had just understood something and stepped to the side. So did Asuma and Gai.

'_That's it!_' thought Yosomono, '_An opening!_'

She concentrated Chakura in her feet for more speed and ran towards the now alone standing Kakashi. She then jumped and kicked him right in the chest. At that moment she turned around and threw a few shuriken towards one of the walls. The Kakashi she had just kicked turned into smoke and another one – the real one - was forced to leave the shadow to dodge the shuriken.

During that time Yosomono jumped towards him, but he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The woman stopped and landed on the ground. Seeing that she was no match for him now she concentrated and released the Cursed Seal that was on her neck. For a second many flame-like red shapes crowed on the left part of her body, before they settled and turned black. Her Chakura became really strong and she became faster than before. And once again she was on the attack.

Kakashi had taken out a kunai from his holster. She ran towards him, getting her katana in her hands and swung it quickly. Steel met with steel and both ninja jumped back. But the girl didn't even give him a chance to attack as she ran towards him. Or so she thought. In a second she felt danger and moved quickly, but not quick enough, as a kunai, flying from her back cut deeply into her left arm. She narrowed her eyes because of the pain, but moved fast, putting her katana back in the scabbard and taking the kunai out of her arm. In less than few seconds the blood stopped dropping, as she knew that the wound had healed. And then she realized that she had lost complete control over the situation – Kakashi was nowhere to be seen and her main objective – the Elder - was guarded by three of Konoha's best ninja. And the worst part was that she had no idea where to expect the next attack from.

It was time to get really serious. She concentrated a little more and the flame-like marks on her left side began to spread until they had covered her whole body. Her skin became a dark brown color and her eyes became black as only the iris was a light orange color. On her back two big eagle wings appeared as her nails became eagle-like.

In that moment Yosomono heard a really quiet noise from behind and jumped away from a few shuriken. She jumped and started flying near the ground towards the place where they came from pretty fast and saw Kakashi running towards her. Then she threw a punch his way, trying to hit him, but he dodged, sending back a kick. For a few minutes they fought with only Taijutsu, not really doing any harm to each other, before Kakashi finally landed a kick to her side, sending her to her right, where she spun and landed on her feet.

The woman dodged a few more shuriken. What the Hell was wrong with her!? She couldn't even concentrate! This battle was going from bad to worse and she had to think of something fast! She formed the familiar seals and yelled, "Katon: Kaji Bunshin no Jutsu"

In a second flames burst around her and three perfect clones appeared from them. All three of them ran towards Kakashi, as he fought them back. At that time the girl formed some other handseals.

'**You baka (**_**Idiot**_**)! Don't you dare try to use that Jutsu! You'll get us killed!' **sounded the voice of Rokubi in her mind, but she ignored her. She concentrated on the handseals.

'_I just hope this will work!' _she thought, getting ready for her signature move.

After she finished the handseals she stretched her hands foreword. She held her left palm with her right one and started concentrating the Chakura. Quickly a red sphere of spinning in one direction Chakura fibers appeared in front of her arms. Now came the hard part. She started concentrating even more, as the fibers started to change and were now looking like small rays of electricity. The sphere looked like it was made from electricity itself, as its color changer from bloody red to almost white. When that was finally done she yelled "Shuurai (_Lightning Strike_)" but at that moment she lost control over the Chakura and suddenly it exploded in front of her. The explosion sent her flying back as she crashed in a wall.

'**Bakamono (**_**You idiot**_**)! There had been **_**three**_** times in your **_**entire**__**life**_** when you managed to use that Jutsu properly and you've been working on it for **_**years**_**! What the Hell made you think you can do it **_**now**_**, during a real battle!? I swear, if my life didn't depend on this I would've cut the Chakura supply to your wounds! You deserve them!'** yelled Rokubi at her in frustration.

'_Urusai (Shut up)!'_ yelled the woman back, _'I don't see you doing anything to help in this battle, so just keep your mouth shut!'_

She took a quick glance at her hands. There were terrible burns on both of them, mostly on the left one, thank Kami, and it didn't hurt all that much. Also there were a few bruises on her back, but she could feel the Demon Chakura rushing to heal the wounds. And it did so, really quickly. However she had lost sight of Kakashi once again. Then suddenly she heard his voice.

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (_Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique_)"

She jumped away from the flames flying towards her and then started flying up towards one of the roofs.

'_That's it! It's time for desperate measures!_' she thought as she started the seals for a technique she hated.

"Sanban Kaihou no Jutsu (_Third Release Technique_)"

As she said that the Cursed Seal started pulling back, but actually the marks started gathering on three places on her face, as three comma-like shapes appeared there – one on each cheek and one on her forehead. Her eyes stayed the same, and so did the wings but her powers increased dramatically.

She then attacked. Kakashi hardly had enough time to put some kind f defense when her katana crashed on his kunai. He held it tight, as the woman was pushing hard. For a second his eye met with her one and in that moment Yosomono pulled back and took some steps away from him.

A sudden pain in her cheek and an image in her mind had made her retreat as she held her left hand on the acing place. It took her a second to realize that it was the mark from the memory Jutsu.

As for the image, it had flashed in front of her eyes for less than a second, far more than the needed to make her loose concentration again. It had been at that one moment when their eyes had met when she had seen it but now it came back with full force, this time, not only an image, but a whole part of her memory. It was like a film played in front of her eyes.

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_There were the same people that had been on one of the images in her dreams – the yellow haired man, the brown haired girl, the masked boy and the little girl with red eyes. They were all standing and waiting for someone. And that someone came running through the trees, as he tripped and fell on his stomach in front of the silver haired boy. _

"_Did I just make it in time?" he asked, panting._

"_Nope, because you're late! Obito!" snapped back the other boy, "What time did you think we were meeting!? You idiot! If you are a fully-fledged ninja you should naturally follow the rules and regulations strictly!"_

"_No… On the way, I had to show the way to an old woman carrying luggage…" began the other boy, which by the way was the same goggle-wearing one Yosomono had seed in that same memory, "…Plus, there was something in my eye…"_

"_WHAT? THAT'S A LIE!" yelled back the other boy._

"_Hey!" interrupted them the yellow haired man, "Don't talk like that, Kakashi! You went with the old lady, didn't you, Obito?"_

"_I carried her luggage too!" said the one known as Obito in his defense, as he sat back on the ground._

"…_You're a real pushover," said the one that was identified like Kakashi towards the man._

"_You shouldn't be getting angry at Obito… every single time," he replied, as the black haired boy was pushing his goggles up to clean his eye._

"_Those ninjas who don't follow the rules and regulations are called trash! That's how it is!" Kakashi snapped back, glaring at the man._

"_Nii-san (Big Brother), you're really mean sometimes," said the little girl as she got closer to them._

"_Get over it," replied the boy, turning his back towards her._

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At that moment the memory disappeared, as she realized that she was on her knees, and the pain had gotten stronger. Much stronger. She didn't open her eyes and clenched her teeth. Than she tried her best to ignore it and even though she was shaking a little she got back to her feet.

"Ku…kuso (_Damn It_)," she said looking straight to the Jounin standing in front of her. '_What is he waiting for!? He could have killed me at least a hundred times now! Why isn't he attacking!?_' And then the answer came.

"You don't have to torture yourself like that, you know," said the Jounin, "If you let me I can undo that memory erasing Jutsu."

Her eyes widened at his words. Could he really do it? But… why? Why would he do that to her? The one who was here, trying to kill him? Suddenly is struck her.

Kakashi had started moving towards her slowly, when he suddenly pulled back as a kunai stabbed right where he had been. The woman in front of him had a really mad look on her face as she was sending him her best glare.

"What kind of idiot do you take me for, Hatake!? Do you think I'm the type of ninja who would let his enemy go to him and do an unknown Jutsu just like that!? How dare you underestimate me!?"

She was boiling with anger as her fists were clenched and her eyes narrowed. Suddenly some blood started dropping from her forehead over her right eye. It was from the Sanban Kaihou no Jutsu. It always left terrible wounds on the places of those three marks if a person uses it. That was exactly why she was the only one to have ever mastered that Jutsu – because of her, or more precisely Rokubi's regenerating abilities. But even that wasn't enough if she used the technique too long, so it was about time to finally end this. She got her katana which was on the ground and started running towards Kakashi. It was time for the last strike. When she got really near he made a few handseals. She held the katana up ready to strike but never did, as his words echoed in her mind.

"Kenboushou no Jutsu, Kai! (_Loss of Memory Technique, Dispel_)…

_**To Be Continued…**_

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_**Chapter Three: Memories Returned - My Name Is… Hatake Akai**_

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_She clenched her fists. It had been him! He was the one that made her life a living nightmare! All of this was his fault! He had taken her memories, her life and then persuaded her to follow him, because of her power. At that moment the only thing that she could feel was hate. Hate towards that monster that called itself a human…_

**Author's note:**

_As I promised, I'll update every week. If there's some delay, I'll inform you the previous week. Thank you, __**Sasuke Uchiha fan **__for the great reviews. I just hope more of you would write. Well, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed it _


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three: Memories Returned - My Name Is… Hatake Akai**

_She was sitting on a chair next to a table, staring at something in her hands. It was a little crystal with the kanji for 'luck' on it. It was the time when she was seven years old. Her hair was long and tied in a plait. She was wearing a red dress _

_"Kaa-san (Mom)," she said as a woman that was cooking in front of her turned a little to the side to see her. She had long curly blond hair and red eyes. She was wearing a blue skirt and shirt and a white apron. "Why is Nii-san always like this? Why didn't he want to take it?" the little girl continued._

_"Akai, you know he's been like that ever since your father… died" '…your father killed himself', that was what she had thought. Akai frowned a little more. Why didn't she want to say it? Her mother had always been like that._

_Her attention turned towards the object in her hands again. This same morning her brother had gone on his first mission as a Jounin and she had wanted to give him this present, but he rejected it, and told her it was 'unnecessary luggage' and had turned his back not even looking at her again. She hated it when Kakashi did such things, but she couldn't do anything about it._

_"Sweetie, go wash your hands and help me put the table," her mother said. _

_She nodded. It was night outside. She had lost complete track of time, but apparently it was time for supper. She left the little crystal on the table and went to the bathroom to wash her hands. She had just turned the water on when she heard knocking on the outside door. _

_"I'll get it," sounded the voice of her mother and then the sound of the door opening. _

_"Hello, is this the Hatake residence?" asked a male voice that the girl could not recognize. She had just washed her hands and was drying them, when her mother answered._

_"Yes, it is. How may I help you?"_

_"We're looking for someone," answered another unknown male voice, "Hatake Akai; is she home?"_

_"What do you want with her?"_

_Akai went out of the bathroom and quietly started walking towards the front door, wondering who wanted to see her. _

_"Look, we won't lie to you, lady, we just need to get her and take her to Orochimaru-sama, because, well, he ordered us to. So if you don't mind…" said the first voice._

_"Don't get any closer to her!" said her mother threatening and then added "RUN!" as she knew that the girl was behind her. _

_Akai was startled, trembling. Those men looked scary and obviously wanted to do something to her. She had just heard them talking about taking her away from her home, family, friends… Why? Where to? She was afraid. She had no idea what to do. Than her mothers voice told her what._

_"AKAI, RUN!"_

_She turned around and started running. She knew that she was a coward, afraid to face these men, but what could she do anyway? She was hardly an academy student. What could she even dream of doing against two ninjas, who were probably Chuunin, or even higher. _

_She knew it was cowardly to run; to run, even when she knew that she couldn't outrun those Shinobi. It was cowardly to leave her mother like that. Yet she did it, trying to protect herself. A yell was heard behind her – her mother's voice,"Doton: Retsudotensho (Earth Release: Split Earth Turn Around Palm)" _

_Yes, her mother was no ninja, but she could defend herself. She had told Akai that her father had thought her how to use Chakura and a few techniques to defend herself. It was good thing to know at least one or two, considering she was the wife of a famous ninja, and the mother of a genius. _

_But this didn't mean anything. It didn't mean that her mother could win. It didn't even mean that her mother would survive. It was just an effort – a desperate try to protect her child. So Akai didn't turn around. Even after she knew that something had happened when a shriek of pain echoed in her ears. Her sharp senses weren't helping her then. They were only making things worst. Now she knew that her mother was gone. That she was never coming back and it was all because of her. _

_Akai continued running as tears made their way down her cheeks. She closed her eyes. Was there any need for this anymore? She had run so fast that she could hardly feel her feet anymore. She could trip and fall any moment and at that point they would catch her. But they would catch her anyway. There was no use. _

_Suddenly she opened her eyes and yelled because of what she saw. She was running straight towards a downward slope that was really steep, almost vertical. She tried to stop herself, but tripped on something and was sent down the hill. The fall was the most painful thing she had ever experienced. And when she finally settled down on the ground she had the feeling she had broken every bone in her body. _

_But it didn't end there. Suddenly she heard the two voices._

"_Well, well, look at what we have here: our little scaredy-cat. You didn't think you could run forever, did you?"_

"_Get out of the way, so I can just get this over with!" the second voice sounded annoyed. There was a moment of silence and the last thing Akai heard before she lost cortisones was, "Kenboushou no Jutsu (Loss of Memory Technique)"_

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Passing right next to Kakashi the woman tried to stop herself, but at that speed it was a little hard, as she tripped over her feet and fell foreword. She fell on her knees and hands and stayed like that for a second.

It was there. Her past, her memories, they were all back, and now it all made sense. Everything that had happened that night, the flashback, the pain in the mark... It was all because of her connection to this place… to this person... She pushed herself back and sat on her knees, putting her hands on them. Suddenly all those thoughts were pushed aside from something else.

She clenched her fists. It had been him! He was the one that made her life a living nightmare! All of this was his fault! He had taken her memories, her life and then persuaded her to follow him, because of her power. At that moment the only thing that she could feel was hate. Hate towards that monster that called itself a human…

Orochimaru!

The anger made her clench her fists even harder, until suddenly she felt something warm on her left foot. She looked down. It was blood, coming from her left palm. She had clenched her hand so hard that her nails had cut through her skin. And she didn't feel a thing. But she knew perfectly why. It was because of Orochimaru, again. She had lost all feelings in her left palm in an experiment he had done on her. It was all because of him! Her anger was becoming too much as she couldn't hold it back any more. She clenched her fist once more and punched the ground in front of her as strong as she could.

"Damn you, Orochimaru!" her voice broke the silence that had appeared.

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Not even carrying she closed her eyes. In less than a moment she was in that big dark room again and Rokubi was standing in front of her.

'_You! You knew about this! Yet you kept it from me all those years! Why!? Was it amusing for you to see me being tortured!? Did you enjoy seeing me take orders from the one that destroyed my life!? Tell me! Why!?' _she screamed with all her might.

'**Are you so blind that you can't see it yourself!? He made you who you are! All the power you posses now, he gave it to you! He made you train, get stronger and surpass everything you could do before. He destroyed the week girl and created the Kunoichi that stands before me now,' **answered the Demon annoyed.

"_Are __**you**__ so blind!? If you had paid at least a little attention on me you would have seen it! I did this on my own! All of those techniques, all of that power, I found them on my own! It wasn't Orochimaru the one who made me stronger! It was my desire to become the best I can that helped me push myself above my limits! If you had at least looked at me during the last fourteen years, you would have never seen someone who copies that snake's Jutsus, but someone who creates new ones! Someone who is getting stronger on his own, without that freak pushing him! If you had just looked you would have seen it!' _she turned her back towards the Demon, and them added,_ 'Besides, making a person stronger is no excuse for ruining his life!'_

Akai was on her limit. She couldn't take any more of this. How could she have been so blind not to see this? During all those years she had never suspected it, and there was the result. Something told her to try to calm herself and that's what she did, breathing hard and staying still.

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Suddenly a voice brought her back to reality.

"What is the meaning of this?" sounded the voice of the Elder.

Akai stiffened. She was just about to get up when she felt that even more blood was going down her face. The battle was over. She didn't need this technique. She did a few handseals.

"Sanban Kaihou no Jutsu, Kai (_Third Release Technique, Dispel_)"

The Cursed Seal spread from the three points on her face, going back to her entire body and then it started moving towards her left side, before it finally turned to normal on the back of her neck. The wings on her back disappeared and her eyes turned back to normal. She almost fell foreword, but managed to keep herself with her hand. She was always extremely tired after releasing it, for that took a lot of her Chakura. But there was no time for weakness now. She pushed herself up and got to her feet, turning towards the Elder. Then she bowed down.

"My apologies, Utatane-sama," she said. "I ask for your forgiveness, for I was working this night under the orders of the sick mind of one of our enemies, not even knowing which side I should be on."

"And you think that is an excuse for attacking one of the Elders of Konoha!? What nerve you have!" snapped the older woman. Akai looked like she was about to say something, but she was cut off, "Don't bother! I shall call for an emergency meeting of the Council for deciding what to do with you. By then I leave it to these four Jounin to keep you from doing anything. I will go there on my own," she added when Kakashi was about to follow her.

"Of course, Utatane-sama," he said.

Akai was looking at her feet. Did she actually think she could get off that easily from attacking an Elder? It was a fool's hope to have even thought of such a thing. At least she was not to wait on her own. She looked up and realized that four serious gazes were on top of her._ 'This doesn't look good,_' she thought.

"Who are you?' asked Asuma. The woman stared at him confused. Had he really forgotten her?

"I'm Hatake-"she started, but she was cut of by him.

"Bullshit! I'm not asking who you're pretending to be, but who you really are," now she got it! They… didn't believe her! But…

"Why?" she said, "Why don't you believe me?"

"You think we're so stupid to fall for such a lousy trick?" asked Kurenai, "We're elites! If you, whoever you are, think that you can fool us so easily, you're wrong."

She looked straight at their eyes, trying to find someone who trusts her, but they all had that same expression. She was starting to doubt that having her memory back was such a good thing. Then suddenly…

"If you're really Akai, then prove it," said Kakashi. All eyes turned towards him.

"How?" asked the ex Oto Nin. She was ready to do everything he would ask from her, just to make him trust her… at least him!

"Well, for starters, if you're Akai you should at least know about her Bloodline Limit," he said looking straight at her.

Bloodline Limit? Of course! That's what she claimed Rokubi's power was! That was one of the biggest lies of her life, but could just make her old friends believe her.

"It is consisted of regenerating skills, mind reading abilities and giant Chakura resorts," she said. That was actually what the Biju locked inside of her was known about, but so far no one had ever realized that.

'_So she does know something,'_ thought Gai, _'but I wonder if she can defend it with prove.'_

"I can, Gai-san," she said.

The Jounin looked at her wondering if she had really read his thoughts but then she quickly pulled out a kunai and stabbed it in her right arm. The pain made her wince but then she pulled it out and stretched her arm, as the wound disappeared in seconds. Then she just let go of her kunai and looked at them again.

"Point taken," said Kakashi. "I've got one last question. If you are Akai, then tell me what happened when we last met."

She looked at him surprised. Was this all? What could he prove with that? There was no sense in that question. Everybody could have seen their last meeting and retell it. But anyway, it didn't matter as long as he was really ready to believe her.

"The last time we met was before your first mission as a Jounin. I tried to give you a gift for it but you acted like an ass and rejected it," she said with a little pained voice.

She looked down again. It was certainly not a day she wished to remember. Her mother's last words echoed in her head, but she pushed them aside, not wanting to loose track of what was happening around. And yet, her brother surprised her and all the others around as he said his next words.

"I believe you," he said and curved his eye.

Akai gaped at him.

"And you have a good reason for that?" asked Asuma.

"It's quite simple, actually. Akai has this unique behavior. She had always been able to both say how much she cares for you, and call you an ass in the same sentence," he said and chuckled. But the others didn't look so sure about it, so he added, "Besides I don't know anyone else who can regenerate like that, and if I'm not wrong she just read your thoughts, didn't she, Gai?"

Akai turned around towards the other Jounin who looked a little more persuaded and she was just about to say something when she found herself in a bone-crushing hug.

"Sweet, Little Akai-chan, you're really back! And you're still as youthful as you've always been! Oh, how I missed your youthfulness!" the voice of Konoha's Prideful Green Beast sounded over the lane.

"G-Gai-san… please... I… can't… breathe…" said the red haired girl, struggling for air. A second later, when Gai let go of her she breathed hard a few times to obviate the loss of oxygen and then straightened up a little and smiled again. "Thanks, and would you please stop calling me 'Sweet, Little Akai-chan'. I'm not a little kid any more."

"Ok, trust you too," said Asuma, as Akai smiled at him. She couldn't believe that Kakashi actually managed to persuade them. And yet she didn't want to push her luck, doubting them.

She brought her right hand up to clean her face from the blood as the wounds had already regenerated. She wiped it from her cheeks and forehead. It was better not to be so bloody, even if it was night. Besides she was supposed to go to the Hokage later.

Then she realized she had to do something. She took out a kunai from her holster and held with her left hand the cloth that kept the symbol of Otogakure on her left foot, and cut it with the kunai. When that was done she threw the forehead protector to the side as it hit the wall and fell on the ground with a loud noise. In that moment the same kunai was stabbed right in the middle of it, cutting through the other metal, in a way that it separated the note in two parts. Akai sent a killing glare to the forehead protector and then turned around and smiled again.

"That needed to be done," she said to the four that were standing in front of her.

"You've changed a lot during the last… fourteen years. And what exactly were you doing at Otogakure?" asked Kurenai, as she and Asuma came closer to the red haired woman.

"Well, it's kind of a long story," Akai began, "But if you have time-"

"We have a lot of time," interrupted Kakashi as he brought out a little orange book from his kunai holster, "And a lot of things to ask you."

"Then I guess, I'll have a lot of answers to give you," she said and chuckled. Then she gave a better look at the book and saw the cover, reading "Icha Icha Paradise", "What the Hell!?" she exclaimed, "When did you become a pervert!?"

"Fourteen years are a lot of time," he said as he opened it at a certain page and started reading. "And anyway, it was you the one, who was supposed to tell us something about these years, am I wrong?"

Akai was just about to start the story when an ANBU unit appeared in front of them.

"Hatake Kakashi, Sarutobi Asuma, Maito Gai, Yuhi Kurenai, Hatake Akai, Hokage-sama wants to see you," the male voice sounded.

Akai swallowed. She had a feeling this was not going to be good. The Anbu jumped on a roof and everyone followed him. The woman was using the time to calm herself down. They could do anything to her, but there were some things that stood up in her head like imprisoning her for life, or forbidding her to be a ninja…

Soon they were there. Akai realized that the Jounin were very quiet and that she really didn't feel like starting a conversation. She went inside the big room, not closing the door behind herself. The Hokage was sitting in his desk and the Elders were behind him. He took his eyes away from the papers and looked straight at Akai.

"Hatake Akai, you are here to take your punishment for attacking Utatane Koharu, one of Konoha's Elders. What do you have to say in your defense?" he asked seriously.

"Nothing, Hokage-sama, for I confess that I have done it and I am ready to take any punishment," she answered.

"In normal circumstances you would be punished really seriously," continued the Hokage, as he got up and started walking around the room, "However, there is the matter of the danger of Orochimaru attacking Konoha right now and the Council has arrived at the decision that you might not be punished and you can become a Konoha Shinobi, if you are able to give us information about his plan. For in drastic times, drastic matures must be taken."

Akai left out the breath she didn't realize she was holding and smiled faintly. Was this some kind of dream or what? And just a few minutes ago she thought this was the worst nightmare she had ever had. But now, spying on Orochimaru, which was kind of a hobby of hers, seemed to have become useful.

"During the time I was with Orochimaru I was not trusted enough to be told this kind of things. But that doesn't mean that I can't tell you about their attack. You see, there were not really a lot of things to do there and I used my spare time to spy around and see what I can find out on my own. And I might say that can be useful."

"Then it is decided," said the Sandaime with a smile, "I will expect you to come here tomorrow at noon to talk about that information. Until then you are dismissed."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Akai said and bowed and then exited the room.

The Jounin were standing there, obviously heard the whole conversation, as Gai made the 'nice guy' pose smiling at her. She chuckled. It had been too long since she had seen him and especially like that. Kakashi curved his eye, smiling as well. A little while later they were walking trough the streets of Konoha as the woman was telling them in short what her life was for the last fourteen years. It didn't take them long to separate and go their own ways, as Akai was left only with Kakashi.

"If you don't have any place to stay, you can stay at my house, until you settle down and all," said Kakashi, and then added, "I've got a bed and a couch, so there's enough place for both of us."

"Sounds great," said Akai smiling at him.

Their walk to his apartment was mostly quiet, as the woman spent her time looking around and noting all the differences in this place. Finally, they there; the apartment wasn't such a big deal, actually. It was small, with two rooms and a bathroom. One of the rooms, the bedroom, consisted of a bed under the window and a wardrobe on the other wall. As for the other room, one wall was occupied by kitchen equipment which actually didn't seem to be really used around here, and there was a couch on the other side with a table and a few stools.

"Well, this is a big place you've got," she teased a little, "Almost as big as the house we used to live in."

"If you like that house better, go ahead, it hadn't been sold, but I think that blood stain won't go out easily from the carpet," at that thought Akai shivered a little.

"There's no way you're making me go back there!" she exclaimed and then went in his bedroom to see what was there.

She stopped at the bed and sat on its edge. The first things that caught her eye were two pictures above the bed; and especially the first one. It was the one that her brother had taken with his old team. His Sensei had a big smile as his hands were on the boys' heads. Both Kakashi and Obito looked displeased, Kakashi was as annoyed as always, and Obito looked like after one of their fights. Rin was standing between them, smiling at the camera.

"You know, Nii-san, I'd love to see them now, but I think it wouldn't be correct to go at this time of night. I'll meet with them tomorrow," she said as her brother looked at her and at the picture she was now holding.

"That would be really hard, Akai," he said,"because, well, they're gone. All of them."

The woman was startled. She stared at the picture, trying to realize what her brother had just said. They were gone? But… how? She knew about the Youndaime, how he sacrificed for the village, but then, what happened to Obito? To Rin? But she couldn't ask. She'd find out, but knew that asking Kakashi was probably the worst way to do that. So she didn't say a thing. She put the photo down, forgetting about the other one and got up from the bed. Kakashi was not on the door any more. He had probably gone to wash as the woman heard water running.

She then went to the wardrobe and opened the door. She looked inside for something for a while and finally took out a blanket and a pillow. She went towards the other room when her brother's head popped out of the half-opened bathroom door.

"What are you doing?" he asked, eyeing her.

She turned around and smiled at him. He had pulled his mask down. Even for his sister it was something you see once in ten years - literally - and she could never understand why he kept his face hidden. It wasn't that he was ugly, or he had something like buck teeth or thick lips. Actually he had quite a handsome face. It was a pity that he never showed it.

At that moment Akai realized that he was looking at her with both eyes – one red and one black. It was a strange thing to see, but now, the more Akai thought about it, the clearer it became – she had read in that report that he had gotten his Sharingan eye from his teammate, who was an Uchiha – Obito! Of course! But why would Obito give him his Sharingan? He hated Kakashi. And when exactly did he manage to awaken the Sharingan? She didn't know about anything like that. This was quite confusing.

She curved her eyes, trying to leave those thoughts for a moment and smiled even wider.

"I'm going to sleep. What does it look like? I'm really tired and-"

"And you think I'm going to let you sleep on the couch? Don't be an idiot," he interrupted her.

"Ah, don't worry about that, Nii-san. Most of the time I spent with Orochimaru I slept on the _floor_. Besides, I'm sure that this couch is even more comfortable than my bed back there. And don't start with that 'you're the guest' crap either," she had to stop for a second to yawn and then continued, "I'm tired and I just want to go to sleep. I don't care if I sleep on the ground or not, so good night."

With those words she closed the door behind her. Kakashi sighed a little and went back to washing himself. When he was finished he went out and as he closed the door, he could hear the other one opening as Akai was going to wash up, too.

After she did that, she went back in the room she was going to sleep in. She lied down on the couch and realized she had not lied when she had said that it was more comfortable from her old bed. Considering what time of night it was and her exhaustion from the tiring day, she fell asleep really soon. She could worry about the other things in the morning…

_**To Be Continued…**_

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_**Chapter Four: Introductions – The Gennin of Konoha**_

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_Akai stared at the boy in front of her. Was this some kind of joke, or what!? Blond hair, blue eyes and that same big grin on his face. For a second she thought that she was standing in front of the Youndaime again. He looked so much like him… And then it came – the painful truth – the Youndaime was dead. No matter how much that boy resembled him, she knew that if there was one seatrain thing on life that was death. But then… who was this boy?_

**Author's note:**

_Well, here I am again. This week it's a little early, but that's because I'll be traveling tomorrow and I'm not sure whether I'll be able to update it then, so… Anyway, as I say, better early than late _

_And again, let me say my thanks to __**Sasuke Uchiha fan**__, who didn't stop reading my story. Thank you very much; your reviews make my world go round! big hug _

_I also want to say thanks to __**Avatar Brisingr**__ for adding the story to his/her Favorites and Alert list. Thank you very much!_

_As for the others, all I have to say is, please, __**PLEASE**__ review! The next chapter will be here next Saturday. Till then, bye! _


	5. Chapter Four Part 1

**Chapter Four: Introductions – The Gennin of Konoha /Part One/**

Akai could hardly remember the last time she had slept so well. Her back and neck weren't aching, she was not freezing and she hadn't had a weird dream. That had been the best sleep she had had for years. Fourteen years to be precise. But aside from all, that there was something even more unusual for the woman. Even with her eyes closed she could feel the sunlight on her face. This was a big change – a giant one, considering the Hell she used to live in for the last fourteen years. And she liked that change.

Akai pushed herself up from the couch and before she even looked around she went towards the door. She opened it and stood there for a second, trying to remember which of the three doors led towards the bathroom. She remembered and went inside to wash herself. The red haired woman got the toothbrush she had found the last night aside from the other one, clearly for her. She brushed her teeth and splashed a little water on her face. Then she looked up and smiled. It was also a big change to see an unbroken and clean mirror.

But she smiled even more, when she saw her left cheek – there was no mark. The kanji had obviously disappeared last night when the Jutsu was dispelled. Yes, this was the best change of all – she now had a home, a family, a past.

She looked at her image for a little while as she tried to put her hair in some order with her hands. There was no use in putting it hack in a ponytail, considering she was thinking of going somewhere to cut it later. Besides, she didn't actually want to walk around Konoha with the Cursed Seal clearly visible on her neck.

After all this was done, Akai went out of the bathroom and took a quick look at the bedroom. Kakashi was no longer there; obviously he wasn't in the apartment either. The next place Akai went was back in the other room where she found a note on the table.

"_I'm off. I'll see you after your talk with Hokage-sama. I've left you some money. If you need more__ I'll give you then._

_Kakashi"_

Under the note there was a wallet with some money inside. The woman smiled and took it. Then she took the pillow and blanket back to his wardrobe and decided to go out around the village. It had been a long time since she had been able to just walk around carelessly. She found a key and went out, locking behind herself.

The day was great; it was warm and the sun was shining. Everything was really busy, even more than normal. Konoha was full of people who were here for the Finals of the Chuunin Exam, and there were big crowds wherever she went. People went in every direction, but she couldn't see any familiar faces. Things had really changed in the last fourteen years.

As she was walking on the street her gaze went up and she saw one of the biggest changes – the Hokage monument. There were supposed to be three faces caved in it, but she could see four. She stopped in her track, staring at the forth face. The Youndaime Hokage – the one who used to be like a father to her. She could remember those days so clearly now…

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_Her seven years old self was sitting on top of the Hokage monument on Sandaime's head, looking at Konoha. Her legs were moving back and fourth. Everything looked so distant from there, the people looked so small, and there was almost no sound. But if she concentrated just a little bit harder she could see them clearly, she could hear every voice. It was__ really__ strange. _

_She saw a few ninja jumping from roof to roof, heading towards the Hokage Tower. It was time of war, and they were probably coming back from a mission. The girl didn't like war. Neither did she like that Kakashi had already gone on many dangerous missions because of it. Neither did she like the idea to go on such missions when she became a ninja. _

_It had been half a year since she started going to the Academy. She was top of the class, showed great potential and knowledge. It wasn't surprising anyway – she was the daughter of Konoha's White Fang__ after all__; e__ven not by blood. And anyway, that was the least expected of her. Little did people know that her good grades were more because of the help she got from one particular person – Konoha's Yellow Flash._

_Yes, she knew him. And pretty well, indeed. She had known him as long as she could remember – when Kakashi made Chuunin he was assigned as his Sensei. That had been the time Akai entered their family. A few weeks after, when her father had died the future Youndaime had star__t__ed coming around more often, as he was in good ter__m__s with her mother, helping her and her son to live trough the loss. From then he had become one of the closest friends o__f__ the family. He had also helped a lot with looking after Akai, as she had become really attached to him, wanting to spend more time with him. He was really like a father to her. _

_When the girl had reached the age of seven, and had gone to the Academy he already had a full team under him – Kakashi, Obito and Rin. And yet he always found time to have a little chat with her. She hanged out a lot with the team, even went together with them on the D-ranked missions inside the village. Back the__n__ Akai had been like a part of team Yellow Flash. _

_It had been around that time, a little while after she started going to the Academy, when she had first asked him to help her. Of course, he couldn't__ just__ say__no__. So from then whenever he had free time, which wasn't actually very often, he spent it together with her, teaching her the basics of being a ninja, helping her with things she couldn't understand and showing her exercises to help her improve her skills. _

_And now was one of those times. The Hokage monument was where she usually waited for him. He was due to come any second. Akai knew that he wouldn't leave her; even if he was a little late__ he would come__; an__d she was quite right._

_The quiet sound of a branch braking under someone's foot made the girl look away from the view and to turn around. Konoha's Yellow Flash was standing there smiling at her. Akai jumped up quickly got to her feet and ran towards him. She knew perfectly well that he had stepped on the branch on purpose. He didn't like to surprise her, so he usually did it this way. And even if he was a little late__ the girl was really happy to see him. She ran towards him and hugged him. _

"_You're finally back, Sensei!" she exclaimed happily. He had been away on a mission for quite some time now, far from Konoha. Around for or five days._

"_Well, you know how it is – when Konoha calls I must answer," he said with a smile, as he hugged her back._

"_Look, look! Look what I can do!" the girl yelled as she pulled away from him and stood in front the Jounin and jumped anxiously. _

_Then she did a handseal and concentrated a little. She started running towards a tree and before she knew it, she was heading towards its top running vertically. The wind blew trough her face as she continued, determined to reach one of the branches. And she did. Finally she sat on it and waved down towards the Jounin._

_The soon to be Youndaime looked up at her in surprise. He had shown her that exercise just before he left on the mission, which was how long ago… five days? It was amazing how fast the girl had managed to get that far up the tree at her age. Of course, she still hadn't reached the top, and yet the branch she was sitting on was really high. He had realized that she was learning quickly, but this was really astonishing. The girl had pure talent for it._

"_What do you think, Sensei?" she called to him with a large grin from the branch._

"_That's great, Akai! You've done an amazing job. Now how are you supposed to get down from there?" he called back._

_The girl seamed to think for a second and then answered,__"I'll jump."_

"_That's a good one," said the Yellow Flash, laughing, "Wait a second. AKAI! YOU'RE NOT SERIOUS, ARE YOU!?" he yelled__ a little panic__ed__, as the girl really was about to jump._

_In a flash he was next to her and caught her in the middle of her jump. He sighed. Sometimes he really thought her crazy. The girl was now almost hanging from his arms, as he put her back on the branch carefully._

"_Are you insane," he said, "How can you possibly think of jumping from way up __t__here?" _

"_Well, that's how I got down the last time. And the time before and…"_

_Now he was sure – she really was insane. How could the girl not have at least a little __sense__ of self preservation? Of course, she didn't have to worry about any wounds because of her Bloodline Limit, but this was going__ way__ too far. She couldn't rely on it her entire life. One day she was going to die like that._

"_Ok, ok, let's try something different. What do you say about going down the same way?" he said._

"_The same way?" the girl repeated._

"_Sure. That'll help you even more. Just get some Chakura to your feet and run down on the trunk of the tree. And be careful, ok?" he asked and smiled._

"_Yeah! I'll try it!" the girl exclaimed. _

_She happily made the handseal again and did what he__ had__ told her. In less th__a__n half a minute the girl was running down the tree. She was running really fast, as the air was not only blowing trough her hair, her plait was fluttering behind her, __the same goes for__ the back of her skirt. She felt like she was flying and even when she reached the ground she continued, as her eyes were now closed. She didn't stop running before she suddenly felt someone catching her and lifting her up in the __ai__r._

_She opened her eyes and saw the back of a Jounin vest and some blond hair on it. She started struggling to get free, trying to kick and punch, as she was on her Sensei's shoulder. _

"_Oi! Sensei! Let go of me! Put me down!" she yelled__ as she heard the Jounin laugh a little._

"_Fine, just don't kill me," he said__ when__ he put her down on her feet. The girl looked at him surprised. Then he gestured towards the end of the cliff, where the faces of the Hokages ended, "You were heading straight to the end. I told you to be careful, and running towards the end of a cliff is not exactly what I had in mind."_

"_Gomen (sorry), Sensei. I didn't see where I was going," she said and smiled, as she sat on her knees._

"_That's what I'm trying to say. __Being__ a ninja you should be more cautious. And jumping from high tree branches and running with your eyes closed is not what 'cautious' means," he replied as he sat in front of her, smiling back._

"_Hai, Sensei!" the little girl shot back as she curved her eyes, and then opened them and said, "Do you have another mission today?" she asked._

"_Well, no. I'm done for the day. Why ask?" question__ed__ back the Yellow Flash._

"_Well," she said, looking at him, "Do you want to come for a sleepover?" the girl asked sweetly._

"_I'd love to, Akai, but you see, tomorrow is your brother's first mission as a team leader and both him and I need to get at least a little rest, and you know that won't happen if I come," he said but when he saw how disappointed the girl looked he added, "But I promise that when I come back from that mission I'll take a day off, just so we can have a sleepover!"_

_Akai looked at him happ__ily__ again__; he__ was right anyway. Every time he came for a sleepover the __following__t__hings would happen – after eating dinner they would play ninja and bug Kakashi, not letting him to go to sleep until one in the morning, then when they would be really tired, they would lie down in the small back yard and stare at the stars, until Akai would fall asleep and the Jounin would take her back to her room. _

_That's what always happened. And yet she loved the times he came. However for the last two years those times became fewer and fewer, as he got a full team and more serious mission__s__because__ Rin and Obito became Chuunin. Yet the girl knew that the Yellow Flash was doing everything he could to spend more time with her. It was just the __matter__ that it was war…_

"_So," asked the future Youndaime, after a little pause, "Let's get to the theory for today, what do you say?" he received a nod and continued, "What do you want to know about?"  
"Well," the girl said and after a little time thinking she decided, "Just the other day, our Sensei at the Academy told us a little about the Summons. It sounded really interesting! I want to know more about it!"_

"_The Summons, eh? What do you know about them so far?" asked the Yellow Flash._

"_I heard that some ninjas could use some kind of cool Jutsu to call giant creatures from a different world," replied the girl in a typically childish way__ her eyes were full of excitement. _

_It was amazing how such a dangerous technique could look like something from the fairy tales to the children. A Jutsu that could take millions of lives could be taken down to a way of 'calling giant creatures from a different world' into the mind of a kid. However, as it happens many times during war, those dreams of a different world filled with magnificent things were to be replaced by the truth about the Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique) and its deadly use…_

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"Out of the way!" a shout awoke her from her memories.

With her ninja reflexes she quickly moved to the right and saw how three kids ran past her, carrying buckets full of different colored liquids. They were moving quickly trough the crowd. A man was chasing them, yelling to them to give him back his paint, pushing the people on his way to run quicker, but he couldn't catch up to them.

Akai looked at them surprised until they disappeared around the corner. It was unusual for such things to be seen in her time, for it was war… But it wasn't now. And how different life was, without the terrible battles and painful news they brought. It made her smile to see everything so calm and peaceful.

However, a new war was coming soon. But Akai knew that she had the information which could stop that war before it had even started and that made her happy.

Then she looked one last time towards the stone face.

'_That must have been the first promise you had ever broken, Sensei,'_ she thought and then a little smile went trough her lips, _'I wish we could've had that sleepover.'_

She let her eyes trace back down to her surroundings. She now knew where she was supposed to go, but before that, she needed to do another thing. She turned to the right and hoped that the Yamanaka Flower Shop hadn't been moved. For her fortune, it hadn't.

Pleasant scents of different flowers surrounded her, as she went in. Different flowers were all around in vases on the floor and on shelves. The store was much bigger than she remembered. Akai smiled as she looked around: There were a few people in the shop, picking flowers. A girl, not more than twelve years old, with blonde hair which was up in a ponytail and blue eyes was standing behind the counter.

She was just giving some change to a man. Akai then turned her attention towards the flowers. There was a variety of different kinds and colors all around her. Some bright, some with strong aroma that was all around the place, some that were neither colorful, nor had a sweet scent and were beautiful in their own way. There were even some flowers that the girl had never seen in her life before.

However Akai didn't need all those colorful and beautiful flowers. She found her way towards a vase full of white flowers which differed from the many others with their simplicity and had a faint aroma. Akai bend next to the vase and got three flowers.

At that time a young girl entered the shop. She had short pink hair and green eyes.

"Well, well, if it isn't Forehead Girl," said the blond behind the counter teasingly, "What are you doing here?"

"Buying flowers, what does it look like, Ino Pig?" she said as she went closer to the other girl and looked at the flowers.

"Why? Has Sasuke-kun returned to the hospital?" asked the other girl instantly, looking surprised.

"No. At least I haven't heard," replied the pink haired girl with sadness, "I'm getting one for Lee-san."

"Excuse me," Akai went closer to the counter where the two girls were and looked at the green eyed one, "Are you, by any chance, Haruno Sakura-san?"

"Hai. That's me," she said after she looked at the woman surprised. It was the first time she had ever seen her, she was sure, but then, where did she know her name from?

"I'm Hatake Akai," the woman introduced herself. "Pleased to meet you, Sakura," she added and smiled towards the girl.

"Hatake…?" the girl looked at her this time a little confused. That was the family name of her teacher, wasn't it?

"Hai. If you're wondering, I'm your Sensei's sister," said the woman, curving her eyes.

"Oh. I'm pleased to meet you, too," Sakura finally caught her hand and shook it.

"I'm Yamanaka Ino. Nice to have you around," said the other girl, "You new here?"

"Well, I hadn't been here for the last fourteen years, but…" she was interrupted by a voice from behind.

"Ino! You mother wants you to…" An older man with the a little darker hair and the same eyes as the blond girl came from a door behind her and stopped when he saw Akai. "Well, look who it is. I thought they were just rumors, but you're really back, eh?"

"Inoichi-san!" exclaimed the woman with a smile, "It's been a while, hasn't it? And yet rumors spread as fast as before," she added with a little chuckle.

"You here to buy some flowers?" he asked, nodding towards the three white ones in her hands.

"Yeah, and I also hoped to find a familiar face to give me a tour around. Things sure have changed a lot," she said with a smile turning to look outside the window.

"I wouldn't mind, but I've got some work. And so does Ino," he said, looking at the girl, "Go to your mother, she wants you to do something."

Looking annoyed the teenager sighed and turned around.

"I'll see you around, Akai-san," she said, "Bye, Forehead Girl."

"Bye Ino Pig," said Sakura and then turned towards Akai as Ino exited the room, "I can give you a tour around if you want," she said.

"Really? That'd be great!" exclaimed Akai as she paid for the flowers and so did Sakura. "Well, see you, Inoichi-san," she waved towards him, as he nodded back.

"But before we go I need to go to the hospital to leave this for a friend," the pink haired Kunoichi said as she nodded towards the flower in her hand.

"Sure thing," Akai smiled, "I'll come with you, if you don't mind."

"Of course I don't. I never say no to some company. So, what do you want to see after that?" she asked.

"Well, when I was here there used to be a Memorial stone in one of the training fields… I wonder if it's still there," replied Akai as they started walking towards the hospital.

"Yes, it is," said the girl, "I know exactly where it is. How can I forget that place? It was where I had my Gennin exam," she added seeming to remember something.

"Oh, really? Was Kakashi hard on you?' said the woman jokingly and chuckled.

"He sure was," replied Sakura as she frowned a little,"We hardly passed. We were supposed to get two bells from him, and the one who doesn't get a bell fails-"

"Nani!? He did the bell test on you guys? Ah, he's such a Copy Cat!" exclaimed Akai and laughed.

She could clearly remember Kakashi's old team going through that challenge. Actually they hardly managed – if it wasn't for Kakashi's skills and Rin, who didn't stop telling the boys to at least try to work together, they would have never passed. It was kind of ironic, actually.

"So how did you pass?" she asked, wondering what had made Kakashi pass that particular team.

"Well, at first we failed," answered the pink haired Kunoichi, "but then Naruto decided to cheat and he was tied to a log. Kakashi-sensei gave us a lecture about teamwork and how teammates were more important than a mission-"

"Wait a second," interrupted Akai, "Are we talking about the same person? Hatake Kakashi, saying that teammates are more important than a mission? That's not possible!"

"Well," the girl looked confused, "He did. I even remember exactly what he said. "'Ninja who don't follow the rules are scum. But those who don't care about their teammates are worst than scum,' that's what he said."

Akai frowned a little. Kakashi saying that? Yeah, sure, she had seen he'd changed, but… After all it was that belief that had gotten their father in the situation he had been and she could recall at least five times when Kakashi had said that he was not going to do something like that. It was really hard for her to imagine Kakashi saying it.

"Well, anyway, after that he left me and Sasuke-kun with our lunches and told us not to feed Naruto or we'll fail, but he was starving and we broke that rule," continued the girl, "and then Kakashi-sensei jumped out of nowhere and threatened us but when we repeated what he had said he let us pass," she finished and then looked up ahead and added, "Here we are."  
"I'm going to wait here for you, ok? I don't like hospitals," said Akai and the other girl nodded and then disappeared in the building.

Akai leaned against a wall and looked down at the three flowers. She knew that Kakashi had been attached to his team, even if he refused to admit it, but could their death change him so much? He was the total opposite of what he had been before. Had the loss of Obito, Rin and their Sensei been the thing that had changed him, or had there been something else?

And what exactly happened? How did they die? Why would Obito give Kakashi his Sharingan, if that was true? Why, after all the times Kakashi had yelled at him, called him an idiot, and even beaten him up during training?

Akai hated questions that had no answers. There had been too much of them during the time she was still under the Kenboushou no Jutsu and even now when her memory was back, they were still here. Fourteen years were a lot of time, and many things could happen during them. That was the reason why returning to your life after fourteen years of absence was so difficult.

Akai looked up from the flowers towards the door of the hospital just in time to see Sakura exiting it. The girl looked really worried as she went down the stairs.

"What's wrong?" asked the woman as she couldn't ignore the pink haired Kunoichi's sad expression.

"There's still no sign of Sasuke-kun…" she said and then added even more disturbed, "And now Lee-san's disappeared too."

"Don't worry about Sasuke," Akai's reply made the girl raise her head really fast. The woman smiled at her, "Nii-san's training him. Sorry, but I can't tell you anything more. But you can be sure that nothing will happen to him."

"Oh, thank Kami," said the girl, "I was really worried when he disappeared from the hospital and-"

"Hi, Sakura-chan," sounded a voice as boy stopped in front of them.

Akai stared at the boy in front of her. Was this some kind of joke, or what!? Blond hair, blue eyes and that same big grin on his face. For a second she thought that she was standing in front of the Youndaime again. He looked so much like him… And then it came – the painful truth – the Youndaime was _dead_. No matter how much that boy resembled him, she knew that if there was one certain thing on life, that was death. But then… who was this boy?

Suddenly she realized what her brother had meant the last night, when he talked about his team.

------------------------------------

_Akai and Kakashi were walking towards the apartment. Everything around was silent as the man was reading his book and his sister was looking around. Then something came to her, as she asked._

"_So, Nii-san, who's on your team?" _

"_Well, they're two boys and a girl – Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura," he replied not even looking at her._

_Akai looked up trying to remember something. Uchiha Sasuke… Where did it sound so familiar from? Oh, right! She remembered, hearing that the Uchiha clan had been slathered in one night and the boy was the only survivor, not counting the killer._

"_How can I recognize them? I want to introduce myself if I me__e__t them," she said__ now looking towards her brother._

"_Well, you can easily recognize Sasuke as the only Uchiha in Konoha. You know the usual – black hair, black eyes, and the clan symbol on his back. As for Sakura, she has pink hair and green eyes, wears a red dress and her forehead protector is tied on top of her head," when he went quiet Akai waited for a second and then asked. _

"_And what about Naruto? Wait a second! Isn't that the boy…?" she suddenly exclaimed._

"_Yes, he is. As for how you would recognize him… Don't worry about that, you can't miss him," her brother said and curved his eye as she looked at him confused._

------------------------------------

'_Damn him!'_ she thought, _'He could have warned me! I have to ask him some questions, that's for sure.'_

Then she smiled towards the boy who eyed her curiously. He was wearing orange clothes, something that wasn't really common for a ninja, considering how hard it would be to hide with such an outfit. He was walking with his hands behind his head.

"Who's that, Sakura-chan?" he asked the girl, giving back Akai's curious look.

"Her name's Hatake Akai," Sakura answered.

"Never heard of her," replied Naruto as he looked like he was trying to remember something.

"She's Sensei's sister, you baka!" exclaimed Sakura a little annoyed at the boy's indifferent behavior.

"She doesn't look like him. And why hadn't Kakashi-sensei ever talked about her, then?" the boy continued still looking at the red haired woman

"What do I look like? An encyclopedia?" the girl was really getting annoyed as she was almost yelling at the blond, "I can't know everything! You should ask Sensei-"

"I think I have a pretty good guess," Akai interrupted her with a faint smile, "He thought me dead for the last fourteen years. I think that's why he didn't talk about me."

"Oh, I didn't know that," said Sakura a little disturbed as she moved her gaze towards the woman.

"Ah, never mind!" Akai said, curving her eyes. "So, you must be Uzumaki Naruto, right?" she asked looking at the boy. "I heard about you."

"One and only! The best ninja in Konoha and the future Hokage!" the boy exclaimed with a big grin.

"More like the dumbest ninja in Konoha," muttered Sakura not looking sarcastic.

"Ah, Sakura-chan, don't be so mean!" said the boy in a whine as his smile disappeared.

"I'm not being mean, I'm just being realistic," answered the girl as she crossed her arms.

"I have to go. Ero-sennin is teaching me this new cool Jutsu and-" the boy said after he made a grimace.

"_Who_ is teaching you?" Akai asked hardly keeping herself from laughing, because she had a very good idea of the person that the boy was talking about.

"It's this old man that peeks in the women's bathhouses. I think he's supposed to be some celebrity or something like that. For me he's just an old white haired pervert."

At that point Akai couldn't hold back any more and started laughing her head off. She had known the Sannin when she was a kid. Well, she had seen him a few times. The last one was not one to forget. She knew that she should have warned her Sensei that if there was one thing that her mother hated, that was perverts, but it had just slipped from her mind. It had been the only time she had seen her sweet and calm mother yell like that. It was so damn funny seeing the old pervert being chased around the house by the furious female.

"Are you, by any chance, talking about Jiraiya-sama?" she asked finally calming herself yet still laughing quietly.

"Yeah, I think that's what his name was- Ah, Sakura-chan! What was that for?" the boy yelped as Sakura punched him hard on the face.

"Baka! Do you even know who you're talking about! Show some respect! He's Jiraiya-sama! One of the legendary Sannin!" the girl almost yelled mad about the boy's ignorance.

"He's just an old pervert as far as I'm concerned," the boy muttered.

"What was that!?" asked Sakura, looking scary.

"Nothing, nothing at all. Bye, Sakura-chan, Akai-chan," Naruto yelled as he ran for his life.

Akai started laughing again as she and Sakura resumed their walk.

"You sure can be scary sometimes," she said jokingly, "Why are you treating the poor boy this way anyway?"

"Because he's a baka," said the girl. "And he even dares to think I'll go out with him."

"Oi, give him a chance! Look, he's being trained by one of the Sannin. I don't think Jiraiya-sama would agree to train just anyone," Akai insisted.

Sakura was just about to answer, when suddenly Akai bumped into someone.

"How troublesome. Look where you're going!"

At those words Akai looked towards him and gapped, saying:

"Shikaku-san!?"

Something was wrong. Yes, the person standing before her looked, and even talked like the Nara, but… Wasn't Shikaku supposed to be fourteen years _older_ than she remembered him, not fourteen years _younger_!? There were also a scar or two missing from his face. This was certainly not Shikaku. But then who was he?

"That's the name of my father if you don't mind," said the boy with a bored expression, "And I don't think I look that much like the old man."

Akai stared at him for a second, before she realized what he meant.

"Ah, sorry, sorry, my bad," she said as she smiled again and then added, "And you do look like him. Sorry for mistaking you though. I'm Hatake Akai."

"Nara Shikamaru," the boy introduced himself. "Where do you know the old man from, anyway?" he asked.

"Ah, it's kind of a long story. You see-" she started but was interrupted by another boy that came out of a shop holding a bag with potato chips, eating from it.

"What's wrong, Shika?" he asked and then looked at the woman that was eyeing him. "Who're you?"

Akai opened her mouth but realized that she was going to do the same mistake from a minute ago she closed it and realized that this was probably Choza's son. So she smiled instead and said something that she had probably said ten times today.

"Hi, I'm Hatake Akai. I'm pleased to meet you."

The boy eyed her and shrugged.

"Yeah, me too. I'm Akimichi Choji. Want some?" he asked as he stretched the bag with chips.

"No thanks," she said with a smile.

"Where are you going, Shikamaru?" asked Sakura, "If you're looking for Ino Pig, she's at the shop."

"Yeah, we were just heading there. Thanks anyway. Come on, Choji, let's find our troublesome teammate."

With that the two boys left back…

_**To Be Continued…**_

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_**Chapter Four: Introductions – The Gennin of Konoha /Part Two/**_

_------------------------------------_

_Akai looked towards the boy. Yes, he truly was an Uchiha. The black hair and eyes gave him away, and also did the Uchiha clan symbol on his back. But with only one look the woman could see that he had nothing in common with her old friend. His gaze was cold and empty and sent chills down her stomach. How can a boy his age bear so much negative emotions? Yes, sure, he was a Shinobi, and yet…_


	6. Chapter Four Part 2

**Chapter Four: Introductions – The Gennin of Konoha /Part Two/**

"Well then, shall we go?" asked Sakura and Akai smiled and nodded.

They walked towards the training grounds talking about different things. The time was passing and when they finally reached the training ground it was almost noon. They started heading towards the Memorial stone, when…

"Do you hear something?" asked Akai.

"No, I don't," said the girl, wondering what she had heard.

**'Of course she doesn't! That was a stupid question!'** growled Rokubi in the back of her mind. **'She doesn't have my senses.'**

_"Nobody asked you!' _snapped Akai back at her.

After last night's quarrel it was the first time the Demon said something. It was really unusual for her to stay silent for so long. She had that annoying habit of starting a conversation in the worst times, and even though those little talks lasted less then a second in the real world they were more than enough to make the woman forget what she was doing before that.

Now, however, she just didn't want to talk to her. Akai still believed that Rokubi should have at least told her to stay away from Orochimaru, or something like that. She was still angry with the Demon and thought of leaving it this way for a while.

Akai smiled and turned towards Sakura.

"I think I can hear sounds like from a battle coming from the left. Maybe someone's training. Let's go see," she said.

"Sure, why not?" the girl answered.

They made their way trough the training ground and soon came upon a trio training in the woods. Actually two boys were training and a girl was sitting to the side, watching them. One of the boys had a small white dog with him and looked a lot like a woman Akai knew with the name Inuzuka Tsume. The other boy who seemed to fight with the help of many bugs coming from various places of his body, wore black round sun glasses and half of his face was hidden behind his high collar. He resembled another person the woman knew long ago – Aburame Shibi.

The girl that was sitting to the side had dark blue hair, but what gave out her identity were her eyes – pupil-less pale eyes, obviously holding the Byakugan Bloodline Limit. Akai however couldn't be sure if she was the daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi or Hyuuga Hizashi. That's why she didn't like twins. It was too hard finding difference between them. But come to think of it, she remembered that a little before she left Konoha Hizashi had a child, a boy, what was the name? Hyuuga Neji. That's right.

As soon as they saw them the boys stopped training.

"Well, well, if it isn't Sakura," said the boy with the dog, "What are you doing here?"

"Just passing by," answered the girl, "Let me introduce you to-"

"We don't have time for this, so go away. We're training!" snapped the same boy.

"We do have time," said the other one.

"Work with me. Don't you want them to stop bugging you?" whispered towards him the first one.

"Not exactly," the other one replied.

"Well, anyway," said Akai after a chuckle, "I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Hatake Akai. Pleased to meet you," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, and I'm Inuzuka Kiba. Whatever," said the boy with the dog.

"Aburame Shino," the other boy introduced himself.

"I-I'm Hyuuga Hinata," said the girl who had gotten up and walked up to them, "I'm p-pleased to meet you."

Akai smiled towards to the girl. It wasn't really usual to see a shy Hyuuga.

"Well if that's all, then beat it! We've got training to do!" said Kiba as he turned his back towards the two girls.

"P-please excuse Kiba-kun," said Hinata, "He's n-not always like that…"

"Oh, yes, he is," muttered Sakura quietly.

"Well, we need to go anyway," smiled Akai and waved. "Bye."

Hinata waved slightly and Shino nodded as Kiba did nothing. Akai let out a small sigh. Then she and Sakura took off, back to their destination. Finally they reached the Memorial stone.

"Well, this is it," said the girl but Akai wasn't listening.

She went closer as she stared at how many new names were carved in it. Her eyes drifted trough them quickly as she could recognize some of them and that made her heart sunk. It hurt her to know how many people she knew had left this world during the last fourteen years. And that were the names only of those who were killed in action. She didn't even want to know how many others had passed away.

As she looked trough the names her eyes quickly caught sight of three certain ones. Those of Obito, Rin and the Youndaime were there. There was no mistaking it. They were gone forever, just like everyone whose name was on this stone.

Akai didn't really like the Memorial; for her it represented death. It made her think of how many people had died during the war, and not only then. And that realization hurt her. For she hated war and everything that came with it. But most of all, she hated the death of a close person. And before her stood the proof for the death of three of the people that were the closest to her heart in her past.

She bent down and brushed her hand on the stone, touching their names. She missed them really much. It was too bad she never even had the chance to tell them goodbye.

She was at the edge of tears, but refused to cry. She was a Kunoichi after all. And this was not the only reason. Akai knew perfectly well that none of them would want her to cry, for they were all her close friends and wouldn't want to see her sad.

The woman then smiled sadly and carefully put the three flowers in front of the stone and bowed her head in respect. After she stood for about a minute like that she took a few steps back and gave the Memorial a final gaze, before turning towards Sakura.

"What do you say we get going? I don't really like this place," said Akai smiling towards the girl who nodded and they started heading back towards the village.

"Did you… know someone whose name is… on the stone?" asked the girl with clear hesitation, knowing that things like that usually left the worst wounds.

"I practically know at least half of the people that had died in the last fourteen years… But if you're asking if some of them were close to me, then yes, they were. And what is troubling me is that I still don't know what exactly happened to them," she said in a sad voice.

"I'm sorry I asked…" said Sakura as she realized that this was something the woman didn't want to talk about.

"Ah, don't worry about it," Akai said in a little more cheerful tone as she smiled. "By the way, I have to go see Hokage-sama now."

"Ok. Besides I've got to go home to have lunch. So then I guess, I'll see you later."

"Sure. Bye, Sakura," Akai waved back at the girl as they separated.

It was almost noon and Akai was supposed to hurry if she didn't want to be late. She jumped to a roof and started jumping from roof to roof towards the Hokage tower.

Maybe she could ask the old man about Obito and Rin… But now wasn't the time. A war was coming and she could worry about that when everything was taken care of. There was only about a week or two before the Finals of the Chuunin Exam and that troubled her.

It wasn't long before she finally reached the building and went in. She crossed the halls as she remembered the way to the office from last night. There were many people, mostly ninja, there hurrying back and forth. It was a time that almost no one had any time for rest. The Finals of the Chuunin Exam were to be prepared and there was the danger of Orochimaru attacking and all. The situation was very tensed and there was no time for breaks.

Akai finally reached the door of the Hokage. There were two ANBU guarding it.

"Hokage-sama is expecting you, Hatake-san," said one of them; it was the same person that had called them last night.

Akai nodded and went in, closing the door behind her. There was no one else besides the Sandaime and herself in the room. Konoha's leader raised his head from the papers on his desk and smiled towards her.

"You're just on time," he said.

_------------------------------------_

Kakashi entered the apartment as Akai walked after him. The meeting with the Hokage had gone great, she had told him everything she knew and later he gave her a Konoha forehead protector, telling her she will begin her job as a Kunoichi the next day. He even told her that she will be rated as a Jounin, starting the next day.

The woman couldn't wait for her first mission. She didn't really like to just hang around wasting her brother's money and she was planning on paying him back when she finally started getting paid.

And thinking about that…

"Nii-san, I'll need some more money," she said.

"I thought something like that," he said as he threw some money and the woman caught them. "And you better eat outside. I'm not even sure if either the fridge or the stove work."

"Figures," muttered the girl as she went in the so-called kitchen and blew a cloud of dust from the stove. "But, I still think there's hope for them,' she added with a smile, "Don't eat out. I'll make dinner."

"That's exactly why I want to eat out," he replied as he leaned on the door.

"What? You doubt my culinary skills?" the girl asked with sarcasm in her words.

"You're quite observant," said Kakashi.

"I might say, that in my humble opinion, I cook very good indeed, thank you very much," she said as she faked a hurt tone. Then she added, "And to make you believe, I'm really going to cook dinner. Just say what you want."

"I don't mind as long as it isn't a snake," replied her brother.

"Don't worry. Orochimaru's not a cannibal. I don't know how to cook them," the girl said jokingly.

------------------------------------

A little while later Akai was locking the door as both she and her brother were going outside. Kakashi told her he had let Sasuke to have a little break to see how she was doing and now the boy was sure to want to continue with his training. As for Akai, she still hadn't seen Konoha, and she really needed to buy some things and to get her hear cut.

They were just getting out of the building when she caught sight of a boy that was leaning at the left side of the wall. Kakashi had just gotten to the right.

"You're late again," said the boy.

Akai looked towards the boy. Yes, he truly was an Uchiha. The black hair and eyes gave him away, and also did the Uchiha clan symbol on his back. But with only one look the woman could see that he had nothing in common with her old friend. His gaze was cold and empty and sent chills down her stomach. How could a boy his age bear so much negative emotions? Yes, sure, he was a Shinobi, and yet…

The woman stared at him. The solo survivor of one of the greatest clans in Konoha's history. She just stopped at the door and stared at him, as he passed her and went after her brother.

"You should be used to that," said the Jounin looking at his book.

They said nothing more. Akai stood like that for a minute or two, watching them disappear. She couldn't believe that boy… She closed her eyes, trying not to think of that and turned around.

She was supposed to find some place to eat. She hadn't had a bite from yesterday morning. She started walking around the streets wondering where to go to when she heard a familiar voice. She realized that she was in Konoha's Hot Springs. She didn't use to come here very often. Then she went closer and saw the one talking.

"Oh, come on, Ero-sennin! Help me with this thing! I can't master the Jutsu on my own!" wined Naruto.

"Urusai, brat! I'm busy!" said an old man with long white hair who seemed to be… picking in women's bathhouses, that pervert!

"Oiroke no Jutsu (_Sexy Technique_)" said the boy as the old man turned around.

Akai's eyes widened as Naruto, obviously using the Henge no Jutsu, turned into a young girl, the type every man would like next to himself, especially that old pervert next to him. A giant grin appeared on the old man's face as he watched the girl.

"Now would you give me some attention," she asked in an attractive tone.

"Sure! Why shouldn't I?" asked the pervert.

At that moment the girl disappeared in a cloud of smoke and Naruto stood before him again. He looked pleased with his victory. The old man was just about to say something when Akai just couldn't hold herself anymore and started laughing hard. Both of them looked her way as she held to a near lamp to hold herself from falling on the ground. This was just too much.

"So that's why you agreed on taking him as your student, eh, Jiraiya-sama?" she said between chuckles as she calmed herself a little.

"Sure thing, and if you want, I can train you to," he said as he jumped in front of the woman, clearly not recognizing her, and staring at her with the most perverted expression he could master on his face.

In a moment her laughter stopped and she sent him a killing glare. If looks could burn, there would've been a hole in his head. He, however, didn't seem to notice as his hands were making their way towards the woman's chest.

"Stay… back…" was the only thing she growled that made him freeze in his place.

He looked at her eyes. There was an angry sparkle in them. All of this seemed to be so damn familiar. In a second he jumped back.

"You! You're that crazy woman's daughter!" he almost yelled as he pointed at her and stared at her carefully and ready to run if he had to.

"Don't call my mother crazy!" she snapped back, "It's not her fault that you're such a pervert! And my name's Akai! When are you going to learn it!?" then she smirked seeing him back away slightly and added as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, "And I see you've learned your lesson from your accident with Kaa-san. I'm glad to see that!"

"Damn Sakumo, teaching her how to use Chakura. Those bruises wouldn't heal for weeks,' he muttered.

Akai couldn't help but chuckle. She clearly remembered how her mother chased Jiraiya around the house, hitting him with a pan – it was the closest thing to her when she started the fight – hitting him wherever she could manage. It really was a sight to see as her Sensei stayed next to her watching disapprovingly and she was literally rolling on the ground with laughter.

"I can never forget that scene – the great Jiraiya-sama being beat up by a woman," Akai couldn't help but tease him.

"I don't hit women, especially if they're not Kunoichi," he said in his defense.

"Then you should have ran faster," the woman continued, "And besides, keep in mind that I like perverts as much as she does, and I _am_ a Kunoichi, so stay away from me!"

"You don't like perverts? Then you should stay away from that brother of yours. I heard he really liked my fine work," said the Sannin as he smirked.

"Fine work? Fine work!? You call this perverted excuse of a book, fine wok!? I can't believe you!" she exclaimed, "Besides I bet you are the one who showed it to Kakashi!"

"You've got that wrong," said back Jiraiya, "I think he found one of the copies I got my student while he was living in his place."  
"Nani!? Nii-san lived with Sensei?" the woman looked very surprised.

"Well, where was he supposed to live after his sister disappeared and his mother..." he trailed off seeing the pained expression on her face." What happened to you, anyway?"

"I spent the last fourteen years with an old teammate of yours," she said.

"What were you doing with Tsunade?" wondered the Sannin.

"Who said I was with Tsunade-sama?" Akai raised an eyebrow at the pervert before her gaped.

"What!? You mean you were with-" Jiraiya began, but she interrupted him.

"Yep, I was with your old pal Orochimaru," she said sarcastically as she saw his face darken a little.

During the whole conversation Naruto looked from the one towards the other, and then he finally said something.

"What are you two babbling about?" he asked. "And Ero-sennin, when are you finally going to show me how to do this Jutsu right!?"

"I showed you already! It's not my fault you're so hopeless!" said back the Sannin as he glared at the annoying boy.

"What Jutsu are you trying to learn?" wondered Akai as she eyed the boy.

"The Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Really?" Akai smiled, "Well if there was anything helpful that snake thought me, it was that one Jutsu!" she said, "I can help you if you want."

"Yeah! Thanks Akai-chan!" exclaimed the blond.

"Just show me how good you are," she replied.

"How _bad_ he is, you mean," muttered Jiraiya.

"This time I'm going to do it right!" said the boy and bit his thumb. He went trough some seals and shut his hands on the ground, yelling, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu"

There was a cloud of smoke as the woman was looking expectedly, waiting to see what the boy had summoned. And from all the things, she was seriously not expecting a tadpole. And that's what she saw when the smoke cleared. She scratched the back of her head as Jiraiya sweatdropped.

"Ok, you need to work on that. How long have you been at it?" she asked, looking at the Summon.

"The brat's been at it for six days," said Jiraiya.

"That's um, a lot," replied Akai, wondering how exactly to say it.

"Akai-chan, can you show me how to do it?" asked Naruto as it was obvious that Jiraiya wasn't about to.

"Sure thing. Just don't expect me to summon you a great frog. I don't actually have a contract with them."

"Then what can you summon?" asked the boy.

"Just watch."

Akai repeated his actions and a cloud of smoke surrounded her. Suddenly something flew out of the smoke. The girl raised her hand and an eagle landed on it.

"What do you want this time? You want me to spy on the snake again? Aren't you getting bored with that?" asked in a very impolite manner the bird, "And how come you're outside? That freak actually let you out; that's something new. Now tell me, why the hell am I here!?"

"Oi, easy there, Washikanja (_Eagle Spy_)" said Akai with a smile. She was kind of used to that 'sweet' attitude. "I'm just showing the Jutsu."

"And you summoned me for that!?" exclaimed Washikanja as she glared at her summoner.

------------------------------------

'What the Hell's wrong with you!? You're getting weaker by the moment!'

In a second's time Akai was again in that part of her mind, but this time, safe for her and Rokubi, there was someone else…

'Though, come to think of it, Washijoou (_Eagle Queen_) – sama would be happy to hear that, Rokubi. The least control you have over the brat, the better things are for us,' the eagle said towards the Bijuu.

'**Don't be so cocky you little insect! If I could I would rip you apart right here and now!' **growled back the Demon.

'That's exactly my point – you can't!' said the Summon and then it turned towards the woman, 'She looks like she's in a good mood. What happened? Did you have another quarrel with 'Old and Cocky'?' the nickname on its own usually made Akai laugh, but not this time. She turned her back towards the Bijuu and didn't say a word.

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"Oi! Akai-chan!" Naruto's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She sad frowned a little and was now staring at the bird. "What's wrong?"  
"Nothing really. Just talking with Washikanja," she answered bringing back a small smile.

"But neither of you had said anything," replied the boy confused.

"I've heard of that. People who have a contract with the Washi Clan can talk telepathically with them," said Jiraiya, as Akai nodded.

It was really strange that she could do the same, though. The truth was that she didn't have a contract. She had never signed such a thing. It was probably because of the Bijuu and her link with that clan that made her capable of summoning them. And that made things hard, because the eagles didn't actually like Rokubi – there was this war or something like that. The only two of this clan that actually agreed to help her were Washikanja and Washijoou. And thank Kami that at least they agreed on that.

"That's cool," said Naruto as Akai smiled at him.

"So, anyway, I think I showed you enough," at those words the bird nodded and disappeared, "Now what would you say of me, helping you?"  
"Don't waste you time," said Jiraiya, as he went to spy on women again, "Brat, go eat and when you come back we're getting serious," he added, towards Naruto.

"Yeah! Finally!" he exclaimed.

Akai smiled. Her Sensei had told her once, that one of the ways to make Jiraiya do something is propose to do it yourself. This way he would think his reputation is going down, because other people are capable doing his work, and in the end he would agree to do it himself.

"Naruto," the woman turned towards him, "Do you know a good place to eat? I'm hungry."

"Why don't you come with me? I can show you the best place in Konoha!" exclaimed the boy and started dragging hr trough the streets.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," said the girl with a smile.

Before she knew it, she was in a very familiar place – a place where she used to eat lunch every day when her Sensei was not on a mission. – Ichiraku's Ramen Stand. She was happy to see it hadn't changed all that much – the Ramen there was still the best in Konoha. While they were eating, Akai and Naruto talked about different things and got to know each other. The woman really started liking this boy.

After they paid (actually in the end Akai insisted on paying herself) they separated and went their own ways. Akai wasn't sure where to go. She was still supposed to buy some things, but didn't really have any idea where to look for them. Suddenly she saw a very familiar face, running trough Konoha.

"Oi! Gai-san!" she called as the Jounin turned towards her.

"Oh, Sweet Little Akai-chan, it's such a youthful pleasure of meeting you here!" he exclaimed.

"What are you doing," asked the girl as she caught up to him.

"I'm in the middle of my usual fifty laps around Konoha. No training can go without them," he said and then seemed to realize something, "Sweet Little Akai-chan, I want to introduce you to my team! Come, come!"

Akai, for the second time in less than an hour, was dragged trough the streets of the village, this time towards the training grounds. Soon she was walking next to the overexcited Gai between the trees. She could hear different sounds coming from farther ahead. Then a yell cut trough everything.

"I'm going to defeat you with my youthfulness!"

The girl blinked as she passed another tree and could now see exactly where those sounds were coming from. Two boys and a girl were in a small clearing. The girl was standing with a kunai in hand and there were many butts all with kunai and shuriken exactly in the middle. A little behind her there were two boys. One of them, who had long brown hair, was obviously a Hyuuga. The other one had bandages over his left hand and leg and was helping himself stay up with a crutch, but aside from that he was just like…

"Hello my youthful students," exclaimed the man next to her, "I want you to meet an old friend of mine, this is Sweet Little Akai-chan! These are… Oi, Sweet Little Akai-chan, are you ok?"  
The woman was staring in the third boy. Then a giant smile appeared on her face.

"How kawaii (_Cute_)! He's just like a mini you! Why didn't you tell me you had a son, Gai-san?" she exclaimed.

"You mistook me for Gai-sensei's youthful son! I'm so honored! Thank you, Akai-san!" exclaimed the boy and jumped up to hug her, but he couldn't stay on his feet and fell to the ground.

"Lee, are you ok?" asked the girl as she sweatdropped.

"Let it go, Tenten. He's destined to fall again," said the other boy.

While he was saying it Akai was already next to Gai's smaller copy and was helping him up.

"Are you ok?" she asked lifting him back to his feet and giving him the crutch, but before he even got it, he exclaimed.

"Thank you, Akai-san! You're so sweet!"

He tried to hug her again, but lost his balance and fell backwards.

"Hn. You're such a failure," said the Hyuuga boy as the other one turned towards him.

"I'm going to beat you! You'll see! A failure will surpass a genius by hard work!"

"How? You're going to beat me with your crutch? Face it, Lee! You can't be a Shinobi any more. That's your destiny and you can't ignore it," he replied as the spandex wearing boy glared at him.

"I will become a great ninja! No matter what those doctors say! You just wait!" said the boy towards his teammate.

"Why?" asked Akai, who had finally succeeded in bringing Lee to his feet, "  
What happened?"

"During the Preliminary Rounds of the Chuunin Exam Lee happened to fight against one of the Suna Shinobi – Sabaku no Gaara. During the fight his hand and leg were crushed. The doctors said..." Gai trailed off. He obviously didn't want to talk about that, but Akai had Rokubi's powers and they helped a lot.

'_The doctors said he wouldn't be able to be a ninja any more'_ the man thought.

Akai's eyes widened. Not being a ninja? Was the injury that serious? She could clearly see that being a ninja was everything in that boy's life. It must have been mortifying to understand he would never again be one. Then an idea appeared in her mind. There was a way for her to help.

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'**Don't even think about it,' **growled the Bijuu's voice in the back of her head.

'_What? Don't tell me you can't heal that. Aren't you supposed to be one of the Demons with best regeneration?' _Akai asked a little teasingly.

'**Of course I am-' **began the Washi, but she was interrupted.

'_Then what's your problem?' _snapped the woman at her.

'**My problem is that this is not your responsibility. Whatever happened to that brat does not include you,'** answered Rokubi with annoyance.

'_What? You think I created that technique to correct my mistakes? I created it to help people, like I'm about to do now!'_ said the woman, glaring at the Demon.

'**Then know that I will **_**not**_** heal it!'** growled back Rokubi.

'_Fine then! You'll be stuck in a vessel that can't even protect itself!'_ almost yelled the woman, _'Because I don't care! I'm going to do it anyway!'_

'**All right, you win, but this is the last time, keep that in mind, brat!'** said Rokubi, as she was really getting angry.

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"You really want to be a Shinobi again, don't you, Lee?" she asked.

"Yes! I would do anything for that!" he said a little sad this time.

"Then I'll help you," she smiled as the boy snapped his head towards her with disbelieve. "You see, there is this technique-"

"Gomen, Akai-san, but I can't use any Chakura," said Lee as he turned sad again.

"Who said you're going to do it?" her smile widened, "I created that Jutsu because I seem to have this Bloodline Limit that gives me amazing regeneration and I wanted to find a way to help people with it," she began as her hands started running trough some handseals. "And as I found out there was no way to get this regeneration to another person, so I found another way," she finally stopped at a seal and said, "Ninpou: Kikan no Jutsu (_Ninja Arts: Mirror Technique_)"

A second passed by and Lee's eyes widened as he gaped. There had been a miracle.

"It's healed! I can move my arm and leg again! Arigatou, Akai-san, you're… Akai-san!" he exclaimed.

The woman started falling to the front but the boy caught her. She had a pained expression and as Lee helped her to sit down she caught her left arm.

"Well, at least now I know what it is for your arm and foot to be completely crushed," she said jokingly.

"Sweet Little Akai-chan, what's wrong!?" exclaimed Gai.

"That wasn't a healing Jutsu," said the Hyuuga boy, "It was a wound transferring one, wasn't it?"

"You're good at observing, aren't you?" asked the girl smiling. "By the way, what's your name? I didn't quite catch it."

"Hyuuga Neji," answered the boy.

"I'm Tenten. Pleased to meet you," said the girl as Akai smiled towards her.

"So am I. And my name is _not_ Sweet Little Akai-chan, but Hatake Akai," she said looking at Gai.

"It's stupid," said Neji and when the woman gave him a confused look he added, "It's stupid to give away your life as a Kunoichi for such a failure."

"I don't think Lee's a failure," she answered back, "What if he can't use Genjutsu or Ninjutsu? That doesn't mean he's a worse ninja than me or you. Besides, "she added brightly, "who said I've given away my life as a ninja? Didn't I just say that I have a special Bloodline Limit?"

Then Neji made a strange seal that Akai had seen before, and said "Byakugan!" In a second the veins around his eyes became clearly visible as he activated his Bloodline Limit. Akai's heart sunk. What if he….

"This is no Bloodline Limit," he said as he stared towards her. "I've never seen anything like it. How can you have… _two_ Chakura systems?" the girl had to use all of her willpower not to let herself show him how bad it was for him to know that.

"Two Chakura systems? What do you mean?" she said carelessly. It was good she was used to lie about this and now it was kind of easy to make herself look ignorant.

"I meant what I said. You have two Chakura systems as the pipes go around parallel to one another and fuse in the Tenketsu (_Chakura Coils_). And the second Chakura system seems to start from your left hand," he added. "The Chakura from that system is what seems to be healing your wounds."

"Then I guess I have a freakier Bloodline than I thought," she said after a little laugh.

At least now she knew why she couldn't be separated from Rokubi. If their Chakura systems were fused that meant that, even if she, by some miracle, survived the extraction, she would, at the least, never be able to use Chakura again. Her Chakura system would be destroyed completely.

"That sounds complicated," said Tenten, "But, you know, I've never heard of the Hatake having a Bloodline Limit."

"Neither have I," agreed Neji. This was not going good.

"Well, you see, I'm not actually a Hatake. I was adopted," the woman defended herself.

"That's right! I heard that my eternal rival's father found her in the forest of the west side of Konoha and decided to raise her as his own child," said Gai.

"Yeah, that's how it was. And it's just the reason that I don't even know my true parents. So I don't know where this Bloodline comes from," she was a good liar that was for sure. But considering she had lied her whole life, it wasn't something surprising.

She spent about an hour with them, talking about different things and then watching Lee train with Neji for a while and then she went back to shopping. Tenten was free so she showed her a few shops and then a good hairdresser as she got her hair cut really short. It was now spiky and messy all around her face. She liked her new hairstyle, and she had always complained that the long hair was in her way before.

Later, when she got back she made dinner and, even though Kakashi was hesitant in the beginning, he liked it and agreed to let her cook dinner from now on.

Cooking was kind of hard actually, considering that the stove hadn't been used for… how long had it been? Probably over ten years. But the good thing was that in the end everything was fine.

Akai was really glad how her first day had passed, thinking through it as she lied on the couch. She had met everybody she wanted to introduce herself to; she even thought she could become a good friend with Naruto. He really seemed like a nice kid.

Anyway, everything else had to wait until tomorrow. After all it had been a long day and she needed her sleep…

_**To Be Continued…**_

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_**Chapter Five: Present and Past - A Mission and Some Memories**_

_Akai went inside the room. She had been here before, back in the time when team Youndaime still got D-rank missions on which she always went together with them. It was strange how time passed and now she was waiting for the Hokage to tell her her first mission as a Konoha Kunoichi…_

_**Author's notes:**_

_Special credits to __**Frenchcookies**__-chan for the quote "You call this perverted excuse of a book, fine wok!?" _

_Thank you for the great reviews, __**Hikari The Emo Queen of Ocness**__**Frenchcookies**__**KaRiSa**__ and (again) __**DemonTsunaru**__! Alo of you make me really happy Thank you!_

_I'm really, really sorry! I promised to some of you to read and review your stories, but I have guests that are staying at my place until the end of the month and I don't have time to read. Just keep in mind that __**I haven't forgotten**__! I'll read them when I have the chance (probbably in the end of the month). _


	7. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five: Present and Past - A Mission and Some Memories**

On the next morning Akai woke up in the same good mood. She washed herself and went to pick some clothes from what she had bought the previous day. There was a mountain of bags and boxes settled in one of the corners of the room.

After she looked trough at least half of them she finally picked a red long red skirt with fire motives on the bottom and the kanji for six in a flame on it, and a blouse with the same fire motives. She also got a pare of red shorts and some underwear together with a towel and entered the bathroom to take a shower.

When that was done she went to the bedroom to see if, by any chance, Kakashi was still there. He wasn't. However, something else caught her eye. She remembered she hadn't taken a good look at the second picture above his bed.

It was almost the same as the first one. This time, Kakashi was above his three students, smiling and holding his hands on the heads of the boys. Both his male students looked annoyed, and between them, Sakura was smiling towards the camera.

Akai realized that they were really so much alike… It was strange. In both teams there were an annoyed and closed boy and an easygoing and funny one, who always quarreled, and a girl that was trying to calm them down.

She sighed. There was a time for everything, and now was not the time to wonder about the past. She put the picture back, but accidentally knocked something down. She reached and lifted it from the ground, but when she saw it she froze. A little crystal with the kanji for 'luck' on it… The same one she had tried to give him all those years ago. She could hardly believe it.

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"_Have you no kindness in you?" asked Obito as he was rubbing his eye, "It's always about the rules! The regulations! Just shut up!" he really sounded annoyed. "The key point is your own self-control!"_

"_Hey hey, don't you two ever stop?" asked Rin, bringing her arms up, trying to calm the boys, "You're in the same team, aren't you?" _

"_You sure don't look like you're on one team," added Akai,"You shouldn't always argue."_

"_You're both too easy-going towards Obito…" said Kakashi as he eyed the two girls, "This is a very important day for me…"_

"_Yeah… Yeah, it is…" said the brown haired girl, as she chuckled a little._

"_What was it again?" asked Obito as he looked questionably._

"_Well… Today Kakashi is inaugurated as a Jounin, just like me," said the Yellow Flash, "To make missions efficient, myself and his team will be split, since the military power of Konoha has hit an all-time low now," he added._

"_Split… Then…" Obito said as he went closer towards his Sensei._

"_Yeah! That's right. Kakashi will become the commander of your three-man team, "said the future Youndaime and smiled, "… and I'll be on my own."_

"_I told you about it before… Obito," Rin turned towards him, "Tog give Kakashi a present…"_

"_Sorry… I wasn't listening," answered the Chuunin as Kakashi's eye twitched a little._

"_I'll give you this," said their Sensei as he took out a strange kunai, "It's a special kunai! It's a little heavy because of its odd shape, but when you get used to it, it's easy to use," he handed it to Kakashi, "Take it with you on today's mission!"_

"_Thanks," answered Kakashi, as he took it while Rin was looking for something in her rucksack. _

"_This is from me! Here!" she exclaimed when she took out a small bag, "A personal special medical bag… You've improved so much that it should be easy to use!"_

"_Thanks," said the Hatake again._

"_It's my turn," exclaimed Akai happily, "This is from me!" she reached out her hand with the small crystal in it, "It'll bring you luck on your mission!"_

"_A ninja relies on his skills, not on luck during a mission," he said as he didn't take the little crystal._

"_Won't you… take it?" asked the little girl with a sad expression. _

"_I don't need it. It is unnecessary luggage," he said as he turned around._

_The girl looked really hurt. She knew that her brother was always acting like that, but she didn't expect him to reject her gift. This was one of the meanest things he had ever done to her. She felt her eyes watering with tears as she then clenched her fist in which the crystal was turned around and ran away with quiet sobs._

"_You moron! Look what you did to her!" she heard Obito's voice from behind, but refused to turn around._

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'_So he took it after all,' _she thought.

A small smile found its place on her lips as she looked towards the little crystal. It was a great surprise finding it, but she was really happy, knowing it had actually meant enough to him to keep it. She then carefully put it down next to the picture where it had been.

The sole thought of him keeping it, was enough to bright up her morning even more. Then out of nowhere she remembered that he had said that their old house hadn't been sold. She had to go there later, to see if some things here still there. She decided to go later in the afternoon as she then went towards the fridge to get something for breakfast.

She had the feeling that this was the firs time something was put in this fridge, but after last day she had cleaned it from all the dust, it was working quite well. She could say the same for the stove, but there was clearly no chance for the dishwasher and if she ever wanted to use it, she had to call a repairman. But that wouldn't be today. Maybe later on.

After she had a quick breakfast she went out. She was supposed to go to the mission room to get her first mission. It was going to be a nice change to have a mission and she couldn't wait, so she jumped from roof to roof. She was soon there.

Akai went inside the room. She had been here before, back in the time when team Youndaime still got D-rank missions on which she always went together with them. It was strange how time passed and now she was waiting for the Hokage to tell her her first mission as a Konoha Kunoichi.

The Sandaime looked trough some papers in front of him and then looked at her.

"Your mission is going to be really serious, Akai," he said, "Considering everything you told me yesterday, I have to take some actions to stop the attack. It will be your duty to go to Suna and inform the Council there about the death of their Kazekage. Do you accept the mission?"

Akai looked surprised towards him. Such an important mission so soon? Well, she had no problem with that actually. It was probably because she was the person that knew the most details about the whole situation.

"Hai, Hokage-sama, I accept the mission," she said after a couple of second in silence.

"Here is a scroll you have to give to the Council from me with everything inside. Your mission is to take it to Hidden Sand and then come back with a report on their reaction. Here's also your pass," he said as he gave her a scroll and a slip of paper, "You should go immediately."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," she answered as she took them and then bowed.

She turned around and went out of the room fast. She knew tat there were not supposed to be any problems with finding the place, as during the time she was with Orochimaru, she also spent much time examining the maps and learning the fastest routs between the villages.

She went back to Kakashi's apartment to get a rucksack with some food and her weapons. She left a note that she was to go to Suna for a mission and then went back out. She quickly found herself at the gates and exited them, jumping from branch to branch in the direction of the south-west border. She knew that even the fastest journey from Konoha to Suna on foot would take at least three days, but she hurried anyway – there were less than fourteen days before the Finals of the Chuunin Exam and preparations for the battle were to be made immediately.

Suddenly she heard something. A quite sound of steps from behind. She was being followed. She slightly narrowed her eyes. Just what she needed. For a minute or so she continued her pace and then she suddenly caught a few shuriken with her right hand and threw them back. They landed on a branch and a dark shadow jumped from it. Then Akai caught her katana with her right hand and ran towards her persuader.

She jumped in front of him and saw his eyes widen a second before the blade of her katana slid against his throat, killing him instantly. She had already seen the Oto forehead protector and was not a bit surprised as she recognized the face – she had seen the man a few times.

'_I hope this tells Orochimaru to leave me alone,'_ she thought and then turned around.

She went on again, knowing she couldn't waist any time.

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'_Kuso,'_ she thought as she was now running back towards Konoha.

She had left the village three and a half days ago. Her trip towards Suna had been pretty calm, after she took care of the persuader. However, everything had started when she got there.

She had been stopped at the gate and after she had showed her pass she had been taken to the building in which the Council had been gathered. As soon as she had gotten there she had explained everything, presenting the scroll to the Council and the answer had come fast. Too fast.

They had said that they trust Konoha, and will send a notice to the second in command there, some Jounin named Baki, to tell him to take the ninja away. However they couldn't fool Akai. Not her, of all people.

'_It's just what Kazekage-sama told us to look out for,'_ those had been the thoughts of one of the Council members.

It was stupid to believe that Orochimaru hadn't thought of Konoha understanding his plan. However Akai knew that this had been only one step of the defense.

On her way back, she had insisted to give the notice herself, but that was certainly not what she was about to do. The scroll in her was either a notice to Orochimaru that Konoha knows about the plan, or a trap. In any case, she couldn't give it to Baki.

She knew she couldn't have done anything. It didn't matter what she had done or said. If Orochimaru had warned them about his, there was no way to make them stop believing him, their so-called Kazekage. And to make things worse she still had three days before she got home. The Hokage had to receive the news as soon as possible so he could take some measures about it.

Suddenly she stopped. There was a way to get this to the Sandaime in less then a day. She took an empty scroll that she had in one of her pockets and a pen and wrote a quick letter to the Hokage. She then sealed the scroll, bit her thumb and made a few handseals.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu" she yelled.

In a cloud of smoke an eagle appeared.

"What is it now?" she asked annoyed, "You're really starting to get on my nerves."

"Stop complaining. I have a serious task for you this time," said the woman as she reached her hand with the scroll towards the bird, "You have to get this to the Hokage. Now! This is really important," she said as the bird eyed her.

"Fine," said the eagle, "but it is getting annoying, using me as a post pigeon!"

The eagle took the scroll in its claws and flew away. Akai followed it until it disappeared and then sighed. At least now the Hokage would know and measures could be taken. She then started running again. The sooner she got to Konoha, the better.

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Akai walked out of the Hokage Tower. She had just came back after the mission and showed her report. The Sandaime had told her he had received the notice two days ago and measures are to be taken. More about the situation would be talked about the next day during a meeting.

She now had a day in front of her with no missions. She had gotten the payment and because it was about noon she decided to go somewhere to eat. She just walked trough Konoha thinking about the situation and before she knew it, she found herself in front of a very familiar place – Ichiraku's Ramen Stand. She didn't go there on porpoise. It was just like some kind of habit of hers. She had usually eaten her lunch here with her Sensei, Obito and Rin, and sometimes Kakashi was with them too, if he didn't have 'more important things to do'.

Anyway, this was the only place she could think of right now and she sat down and ordered. It was kind of quiet here, without the Yellow Flash laughing and talking to her, or Naruto telling her about the way things were around Konoha.

When she got her meal, she quickly ate it and paid. Now she had a good idea of what to do next. She needed to pay a visit to her old home, and see if she could find something. Akai made her way trough the streets of Konoha towards a house she hadn't been to for fourteen years, and to be honest, she didn't really want to go there.

Soon she went out of the noisy part of the village and entered the outskirts. Things seemed very familiar around here as she continued walking before she stopped in front of the last house of the street. The Hatake residence.

It was a small house with three rooms, a bathroom and a kitchen. There was a small back yard that was now out of any kind of order as weeds had grown everywhere and the old Sakura three seemed to have faded away.

The house could never be compared to the Hatake Mention in which her parents had lived when she was adopted, but after Takumi had found her husband death in the dojo, it had quickly been sold and torn down by the new owner of the place. Her mother and brother had moved in this house, which was almost out of the village, because after her father's doings no one looked at them the same way.

But now, all of this seemed so distant to the woman as she stared at the door that was hardly hanging on its hinges as all kinds of paint had been washed away by the rains. The house itself looked really gloomy as it was more than obvious that no one had lived here for the last ten to fifteen years. There was moss everywhere, the windows were broken and there were too many weeds around.

Akai sighed quietly. He never used to spend too much time here in the day. She was usually in the village. The routine had been always the same – when team Youndaime had been around she would spend all day with them, going on D-rank missions or just watching them train all morning. When that would be done they would go to Ichiraku's Ramen Stand to eat lunch and then she would hang out all afternoon either with her Sensei or with Rin. When it would be already starting to get dark, she would head home, going trough the Uchiha sector of the village as she would be greeted by the women and yelled at for trespassing by the men. Eventually she would end up staying with Obito for a few more hours and when it would get too late, she would go home as fast as she could.

Other days, when the team would be on a mission outside the village things would be different. She would spent the morning watching Shibi and Hiashi train it the fields and then, some time before noon she would go to Shikaku and try to play Shogi with him. After she would lose five or six games ion less then an hour she would give up, jokingly calling the game 'too troublesome' and would go to have lunch. A little later she would find herself for a barbeque with Choza that would take a couple of hours. After that she would go to the Yamanaka Flower Shop to help and listen about flowers and other things Inoichi would talk about. After that she would go to the Inuzuka house and spend some time with Tsume and Hana. After that, when the time would be around sunset she would go home and help her mother with the dinner.

Akai lived in a time of war and many times the ones she met with were on missions. When someone would be missing, she would spend her time with Gai, Asuma or Kurenai, or she would train on her own.

Many people would wonder why she was always either with the adults or with the older kids. The point was that she hardly knew any of the children her age and she actually preferred to spend her time with the ninjas, instead of them. Maybe it had been the atmosphere she had lived in – her brother always fighting to become a better ninja, her father being one of the most famous Shinobi of his time and one of her closest friends trough her whole life, being a legend himself.

The sound of the door creaking, opened a little by the wind brought her back from her thoughts. It was almost it was calling her to come inside. After another moment of hesitation she stepped foreword towards it. She knew that entering that house would mean entering her past and bringing back memories, so happy and yet so painful to her, from the days she used to have a family, to have friends. From the days she used o be happy and careless. The days she treasured and yet wanted to get away from. For she had been happy then, and now it was all gone…

Akai took a few more steps and now she was in front of the open door. In less than a moment she found herself in the room. Dust was all around her in the air as the windows were almost covered by moss and that made the light that came inside to look like it had a slight green color. Everything was really quiet as it was almost like the sounds fro outside had died and the only thing that was heard was the sound of the wind and her hesitant and quiet steps.

A second after she entered the first thing that caught her eye was a big dark spot on the floor a little away from the door. Her heart sunk as she knew what had happened when her mother had tried to protect her. Her shriek still echoed in the woman's ears and for a second she just froze on her place staring at it. She could almost see her mother lying on that spot covered with blood.

Akai closed her eyes and shook her head. She was not supposed to think about that. Besides, she had come here for a different reason. She slowly went around the spot and headed towards one of the rooms – the one that used to belong to her and her brother. It was in the end of the small hall to the left. Akai pushed the door as it opened slowly, letting her in.

The room was empty. Nothing of the things that used to be there were to be found. The window had been crashed as glass was on the floor. There was moss everywhere – on the walls on he ground, around the window. The woman stepped in the middle of the room and cleaned a single spot. There the wooden floor looked a little different as she carefully managed to lift the floor-board. Here was a small hole underneath it and a metal box inside.

Akai remembered clearly putting the box there. She had been afraid of thefts and kept her most important possessions safe there. She had never thought that they would be safe for so long.

The box was covered with rust but as the girl opened it she happily realized that everything inside had stayed untouched. There were four things there.

On top of everything, there was a pair of orange goggles that wee the same as the ones her old Uchiha friend had wore.

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_It was Akai's seventh birthday. The first time that the whole team Youndaime was there – last year they had been o a mission – and the girl was really happy._

_As usual Obito was late and the second he arrived Kakashi started scolding him. His Uchiha teammate hadn't missed this opportunity to start a quarrel and when things were just about to get really serious Youndaime, Rin and Akai had stepped in and calmed the boys._

"_It's time for the presents!" exclaimed Obito as they were now sitting surround the table in the house, "Mine's first!"_

_He pushed a roughly wrapped package in front of the girl and she happily unwrapped it. There were goggles in it, the same as the boys as Akai laughed and put them on._

"_Arigatou, Bito-kun!" she exclaimed and hugged him tight._

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Akai smiled towards the gift. She hadn't worn them very often. It wasn't that she didn't like them; she just didn't wear goggles very often. She usually put them on when she wanted to annoy Kakashi as every time he saw her with them, he just rolled his eyes and said nothing.

She looked at them for a small while and then she turned her attention towards the next thing in the box, putting them a little to the side.

The next thing was a smaller box with a set of combs. There were about ten different combs in different sizes and kinds.

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"_Ok, then it's my turn," said Rin as she gave a nicely wrapped package with a ribbon on it. _

_Akai smiled as much as before and started unwrapping it. When she was finally done she say a box with different combs in it, arranged carefully._

"_A few days ago you said that your hair is bothering you, so I decided that this could be of use," smiled the Medic._

"_It's great Rin-chan!" said the girl happily as she hugger her as well._

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The memories were really sweet and Akai stayed like that just staring at the small box. Then, finally she put it next to the goggles and reached for the next thing. It was a small medallion looking really fragile, with the kanji for 'smile' on it. it was on a leather collar.

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"_Well, I guess it's my turn at last," said the Yellow Flash smiling, "This is from me."_

_He gave the girl a small present bag that was not bigger than her fist as she looked at it curiously and opened it. Inside there was a small medallion with the kanji for 'smile' written on it._

"_Keep it with you to remind you never to forget to smile," he said with a wink as Akai hugged him tight._

"_Arigatou!" she exclaimed._

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Akai held it for a moment or two as another warm smile spread on her lips. She took the collar and tied it behind her neck as the medallion could be seen clearly.

The last thing in the rusty box was a photo. The photo she had seen in one of her strange dreams when she still had no memory. It wad been taken in front of the house. On the right there was Obito, with his thong out towards the camera, Rin next to him laughing at him, the future Youndaime standing behind them laughing and looking towards Akai who was on his back. A little to the left there was Kakashi, who looked like the only thing he wanted was this to finally end.

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"_Kaa-san, would you take a photo of us?" asked Akai her mother as she smiled towards her._

"_Of course, Sweetie, I'll be happy to," answered Takumi as she got up and went to get the camera._

"_The birthday girl gets a lift out," said her Sensei as he lifted Akai from the chair and placed her on his back as she laugh._

"_Let's race," yelled Obito overexcited as he started running towards the door. _

_When he was out he saw that both his Sensei and Kakashi had beaten him as the soon to be Youndaime chuckled and Kakashi looked at him disapprovingly. Rin came walking out of the door and smiled towards the annoyed boy. A minute later the curl haired woman came, holding a camera._

"_Smile" she said as Obito stuck his thong out, Rin the Yellow Flash and Akai laughed at him and Kakashi rolled his eyes annoyed._

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Akai stayed like that for a little while. She really missed those days. She brushed her hand against the picture.

"I really miss you," she whispered, "I wish I could turn back the time just to spend one more day with you."

'**Be a little realistic. Time travel is something even a Biju can't do!'** sounded Rokubi's voice in her head.

'_Oh? So you admit that you're not all powerful?'_ said the girl teasingly.

'**You know that, as well as I do. There are things even my kind can't do,'** came the annoyed answer.

Akai then took one last look towards the picture before putting it back in the box, together with the set of combs and the goggles. She then stood up from the ground and took the box.

She went out, trying not to look at the spot when she left the house. She continued towards Kakashi's apartment not even looking back at her old home. There was a whole day in front of her, and she was already so damn tired.

_**To Be Continued…**_

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_**Chapter Six: Crash – An Old Friend Turned Foe**_

_Akai clenched her fists. So it had come to this? She was about to fight the one person that had been the closest thing to a friend she had had for the last fourteen years. It was going to be a life or death battle and she knew it, but eventually there was no way going around it…_

_**Author's notes:**_

_I'm really sorry if there are more mistakes then the last few chapters, but I didn't have time to check this one. (Actually I'm going to the country side today and I almost forgot to put the chapter up --;)_

_Thanks again to __**Hikari The Emo Queen of OCness **__for the great review. I'm looking forward to all of your comments, so please write something about the story praying_


	8. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six: Crash – An Old Friend Turned Foe**

Akai was standing behind a three, not moving a muscle. If she didn't know about them she probably wouldn't be aware that four people were hidden around her between the leaves. There was not a sound from them, safe for the quiet noise of breathing which Akai heard only because of her sharp senses.

It was the day of the Final Exam. It had begun quite some time ago and now everyone was ready for the attack.

For the last few days she had gotten a lot of missions, mainly about the preparations for the attack and the defense. Now all of that was going to show in this fight. She could almost hear the noise from the stadium where the Exam was, which had actually lessened for the last few seconds. That could mean only one thing: the Genjutsu was on place and everything was starting.

She kept her eyes on the group in front of her. There were six Shinobi, sitting around some signs on the ground holding their hands in the Tiger seal with scrolls in their mouths, three who stood close and one that was hidden in the other side of the clearing.

On the other hand, there were four people in her team, all Chuunin, standing on the surrounding branches. Somewhere around Jiraiya was hiding as well. The plan was simple – in the best moment Akai and her team would move in and attack the Summoners and if they're a little too late and some of the snakes had already been summoned, the Sannin would move in with a Summon of his own to take care of them.

For now things were going perfectly smooth – the group hadn't been detected. However the woman continued telling herself that there was still some time – as much as she liked to be optimistic, she was not to let her guard down on her first mission as a team leader. And not only that, but the mission itself was an A-ranked and very important for Konoha.

Suddenly the sitting ninja broke the seals they were doing and got the scrolls out of their mouths. Akai tensed slightly. There it was! She raised her left hand slowly, putting the other Konoha Nins on alert and then on the second the enemies stuck the scrolls in the ground, she suddenly waved down with her hand, giving the sign.

Four Shinobi jumped from the threes in a vicious attack against their enemies as kunai and shuriken fell like rain on the ground. The Oto Nins, caught off guard, started to fight for their lives as the Summoning went wrong and hardly one giant snake appeared. In that moment out of nowhere sounded Jiraiya's voice, calling the words for the Kuchiyose no Jutsu and the Sannin appeared with a giant toad which started to fight the other Summon.

Akai followed the Chuunin as on her way she took her katana in hand and got ready for a bloody battle. She rushed in, hitting a few flying kunai and shuriken with her blade to keep them away from herself and jumped aside as a giant fireball appeared before her.

She had to admit, the enemies weren't playing and though they were caught by surprise they didn't loose their composure and fought back with full strength. Nothing was certain in this fight, considering that the Leaf Nins were fewer in numbers, but so far Akai could already see two bodies on the ground and her team was still on its feet.

The Jounin landed on the ground to the right and turned quickly as her katana cut trough the arm of one of the enemies. She then felt pain in her left leg as a kunai had cut her, but she ignored it. She turned again and this time ducked under the stretched arm that was trying to hit her. She caught it with her free hand and swung around, throwing the opponent into another Oto Nin. Then she rose up again and gave the situation a quick look.

There were about five or six people on the ground but she could no longer keep track of who of them were enemies and who were allies. On the right the frog and the snake were still fighting.

Akai was taken back to reality from her observation when a kunai flew a few centimeters from her face and then she jumped as another fireball appeared. In a second everything around stopped. It was like the whole world was held in one place and no one moved, including the woman. She quickly realized that it was a Genjutsu and dispelled it and then she jumped away from an enemy. As Akai landed a few feet away she stopped a Shinobi, who tried to kick her. With one swing of her katana she left him death on the ground.

The woman straightened herself and looked around. It was over. She put her katana, now covered with blood, back in the scabbard. The enemies were death. She quickly looked trough the faces of the standing and then looked at the bodies. There was only one Konoha Shinobi on the floor. She went to him, checked his pulse and sighed, seeing he was still alive.

"Ok, everyone, you did a great job! Go to the stone faces. All the Medics and doctors are there. And take him with you," she said, turning towards the Chuunin as some of them were severely hurt.

"Where are you going with those orders?" asked Jiraiya from behind her, "Aren't you heading there too?"

"No. I'm going to the stadium. I can still fight," answered the woman as she turned with some worry towards the village. She had seen it clearly before they attacked – a barrier appearing there. That couldn't be good.

"You finished your mission, take a break," said the Sannin as he looked at her.

"Gomen, Jiraiya-sama, but I've got to go," she said and jumped to the trees from where she started heading towards Konoha.

She knew that Sarutobi was going to fight Orochimaru. He had said it during the meeting when they were given their missions. He had said that if there's someone who could fight the snake, it was himself. And yet Akai couldn't help but have a bad feeling about it.

Suddenly she stopped in her tracks as she saw someone running in the opposite direction and felt some Chakura. What the Hell was that? Could it be…? She could have sworn she felt Shukaku's Chakura there. But what would Gaara be doing here? He was supposed to attack Konoha, not to run away. Then Akai saw another figure chasing after the first one. This time the woman managed to see exactly who it was – none other than Uchiha Sasuke. That made no sense. What was he doing, chasing after Gaara? And why weren't they at the stadium?

Akai turned to the front and continued jumping from branch to branch. Her brother was there and he would tell her what was going on.

Soon she reached Konoha. There were many battles everywhere. Many of the retired Shinobi, mostly her old friends were keeping the enemies from entering the village. There were no civilians around. Everyone was in the caves that were inside the Hokage monument, evacuated right after the Exam started and the stadium was closed.

On the other hand there was a barrier made around the stadium itself, so Orochimaru would have no way to get any information on how his plan was failing. There were also many ANBU units in the stadium. There were hardly eight standing around in their uniforms, but more than twenty were between the guests, dressed like normal people.

It didn't take the woman long to get to the stadium. She quickly found the Shinobi who were keeping the barrier up and they let her in. It was a madhouse inside, a lot like the battle that had just finished – many kunai were flying all around while Kakashi, Gai and Kurenai were fighting the Oto Nins, together with some ANBU.

Akai rushed in the fight and in a second she was back to back with her brother. She kicked a Shinobi that had gotten quite close and threw a kunai or two, which crashed in the enemy's.

"What's going on?" she asked as her brother ducked under a kunai and she turned to the left to escape from it and then got back to back again. "Why were Gaara and Sasuke running away? And where is Naruto?"

"The match went worse then expected. Gaara-kun was exhausted and his siblings took him away. Sasuke started chasing him, and I sent Naruto, Sakura and Shikamaru to get Sasuke back. Any more questions?" Kakashi reported, throwing a few shuriken.

"Nope, that was enough. And-" her eyes were going trough the standing ninja and stopped on top of a certain one. "Never mind. I've got to go."

She ducked under another kunai and threw one towards an enemy as she made her way towards the Shinobi standing a little out of the fight. He was wearing an ANBU mask and cloak, but Akai could clearly see under the disguise. In a quick action she threw a few shuriken towards him as he jumped a little back and landed on the arena. The woman landed a few feet away from him.

"Well, well, looks like we meet again, Yosomono-chan,' he said carelessly.

"My name is Akai," snapped the woman back, "But I bet that doesn't make any difference now, does it, Kabuto-kun?" she turned towards him, as the Medic took off his mask. "Let me guess. He told _you_ to kill me by all means? Why am I not surprised?"

"Do you really think that Orochimaru-sama would order me to do anything less?" answered the Oto Nin with a smirk, "I am his right hand man, after all."

"So then… I guess I can't escape the battle, can I?" said Akai more to herself, than to the person in front of her.

This was the worst case scenario. She could never imagine herself fighting Kabuto in a real battle, not those training matches they went trough so often. Why him, of all people?

Akai clenched her fists. So it had come to this? She was about to fight the one person that had been the closest thing to a friend she had had for the last fourteen years. It was going to be a life or death battle and she knew it, but eventually there was no way going around it.

During the years Akai had spent with Orochimaru, she had been alone. She hated everyone there with one solo exception – Yakushi Kabuto. During those fourteen years a strong bond had been created between them as they had become friends. There had been numberless times when the Medic had helped Akai to get out of tough situations, like the millions times she got herself into fights. They had trained together, and he had taught her a lot about human anatomy – things like where to cut to kill a person instantly. On the other hand the woman had taught him a lot about weapon use and Taijutsu.

She knew that if there was actually anything that she would miss from her time in Otogakure that would be his friendship. It had been the only thing that kept her there. The thought of running away and searching for her old life had come up not one or two times, yet every time one thing stopped her – as hard as it was living there, at least she had one person to care for, to spend time with, just talking about nothing particular. She had been afraid that if she ran away she might have never been able to create another friendship like that one.

And even though now all that uneasiness was gone as she had not only friends, but a family as well, she still didn't really want to turn her back on that one bond she had created. It pained her to think that now it was all over. That nothing was ever going to be the same again between the two of them.

Akai closed her eyes for a second and then opened them again. As hard as this was she had to do it. If she wanted to break away from that past once and for all, she had to do it. She had to break this one bond and turn her back on everything. But it was so damn hard.

The ninja in front of her smirked a little. That was it. The fight had begun.

Akai jumped to the side as a ninja attacked her from behind. She had been prepared for that. After all, the Shikon no Jutsu _(Dead Soul Technique)_ was one that Kabuto created himself. It was not surprising and he had probably prepared it before she came.

She took out her katana and sliced the death body in two as it fell to the ground. Then the Kunoichi turned towards Kabuto, but he was no longer there. She heard a quiet sound from behind and turned around just in time to block his punch. The ANBU cloak was no longer on him and was being waved behind him by the wind.

He tried to kick her, but Akai dodged and jumped a little back. If he was planning on fighting her with Taijutsu, that would be hardly possible, considering that she taught him all he knew about this fighting style so she had some advantage. But the woman knew that he was not stupid and if he was attacking like that there was something different behind it.

However Akai would not let him execute his plan. She charged towards him and sent a few kicks that couldn't connect because of his quick reflexes. Then he jumped back and disappeared under the ground. Akai jumped a second before his hand rose from the earth beneath her, but then he arose himself and caught her leg, sending her flying to the right. She managed to land on her hands and feet and then turned towards him, only to be greeted by a few kunai flying her way. She quickly dodged and looked around only to see nothing.

'_What kind of armature does he have me for? The Meisaigakure no Jutsu (Hiding Camouflage Technique)? If he thinks he's got me with that one, he's dead wrong!'_ she thought as she concentrated some Chakura in her ears and in less then a second heard a sound from the left.

She quickly threw a few shuriken that way and was not surprised to hear something or someone landing a little to the side. The next step was to find his exact location. She concentrated some Chakura this time in her nose and it didn't take her long to realize exactly where he was by his scent. He was running towards her, probably planning an attack.

She jumped to the side and threw a kick to where she thought he was, but then a punch greeted her from the other side. Fine, so her plan wasn't perfect! Well, who can fight against an invisible enemy, anyway? It was just as hard as it sounded. She could predict his movements to some extend, but it seemed that he had changed his way of fighting and was surely not using what she had taught him.

After Akai was sent flying again, she decided that this was not the right way to do this. She went trough several handseals and said "Joukei no Jutsu (_Sight Technique_)". She closed her eyes as she activated the technique. In a second everything around appeared like an image in her mind in black and white. This technique was pretty useful to see hidden enemies, as it used a flow of Chakura to inspect the surrounding area and bring back every information from the surrounding few miles. However the technique burned a lot of Chakura. But for now it was Akai's only solution.

She quickly caught sight of Kabuto and charged towards him. A few punches and kicks were sent from both sides and when not one of them connected, Akai caught her katana and swung it once as the Medic protected himself with a kunai. After a second the two jumped back and Kabuto released the Jutsu. That was a relief for the woman, as she did the same and opened her eyes.

Kabuto smirked, not loosing her from his sight.

"I see this won't be easy. Not that I expected it to be," he said looking straight at her and pushed his glasses up.

Then he got a small pill from his kunai holster and ate it. In a second he made a few handseals and held his arms in front of his chest with the palms towards her. Light blue Chakura shone around them as he activated the Shosen no Jutsu (_Mystical Palm Technique_). Now things were really getting serious. Akai knew how much damage he could do with that technique.

She narrowed her eyes a little and still holding her katana in the right arm she made a one-hand seal with her left one. She was about to unleash a power, which had been seen by many, but hardly any on them had survived to tell about it. And Kabuto was one of the few.

Her 'Bloodline Limit' was to be released.

Her seal appeared on her left palm, burning in bright red as the same colored Chakura surrounded her. Behind her back, wings and a tail formed from the Chakura, and around her hands it was in the form of craws. Her eyes changed their color, turning from bright red, to dark brown, almost black. Akai glared towards Kabuto as the Chakura floated around her making her look more like a giant eagle. _Now_ things got _really_ serious.

'**Let's have some fun,' **sounded the Demon's voice in her head, followed by a sadistic laugh.

She didn't like using Rokubi's Chakura. It always led to serious damage to her after the fight, leaving her unconscious for who knew how long. But what she hated even more was, that the Biju could take over her body if she wanted, while she was using her Chakura, for at that time the seal was really weak. However the woman had already found out that the Washi had locked herself inside of her, not so she could find a way to escape, but to have some peace so that was not really something to be worried about.

Akai stood like that, just staring at Kabuto, and he did the same. A slight wind blew around them and ruffled their hairs. The sounds of the surrounding battles echoed trough the air. For a while none of them moved a muscle as a few leaves blown by the wind danced around them. Then the woman was the first to move.

In a second she charged really fast towards Kabuto, so fast that he could hardly see her move. However the Medic managed to dodge her blade by centimeters. And then, moving his own hands, charged with Chakura towards her. Akai jumped quickly to the side and swung around, as she threw her katana towards the distancing Oto Nin, who dodged it again. With the same speed Akai ran towards him, trying to cut him with the claws, but he ducked and reached to hit her on the stomach. Alarmed by his technique she made a fast movement and dodged, but his other hand connected with her left tight as she hardly stopped herself from falling. She pushed herself back with her right leg and landed on hands and legs as the red Chakura concentrated around her left leg and quickly healed the injury.

Akai reached to her kunai holster and took a single kunai, which she threw towards him. However it went right trough the ninja. In a second the weak Bunshin disappeared and she realized that Kabuto was nowhere to be seen. She then heard something from underneath her and jumped to the left as he used the same trick, appearing from the ground. This time, however Akai was ready and as soon as he appeared she kicked him hard, sending him flying to the other side of the arena.

She dashed towards him as he quickly got back to his feet and when she got in front of him he didn't give her the opportunity to attack as he did a few fast movements with his hands, which went too close to her for comfort. Akai, however, managed to make a deep cut on his right cheek, before she pulled back. The blood slid down his face. However the wound disappeared quickly.

'_Inyu Shometsu (Secret Healing Wound Destruction)'_ thought the girl, '_I should have thought about that.'_

Well, now she couldn't say that she was the only one with great regeneration. However she knew quite good how that Jutsu used up a lot of his Chakura and it was clear to her that he couldn't use it forever. There was a limit to it, like to everything else. She just had to stretch the fight a little more and she could win just because of his Chakura exhaustion. However there were the soldier pills… She had to think of something better.

Suddenly she caught something in her sight. Were those… feathers? Yes. Many feathers were falling from the sky as she stood and looked at them with surprise. Suddenly she started to get a little sleepy. For a second she wondered what was going on, and then it hit her – literally. One of Kabuto's hands landed hard on the upper left part of her chest.

Akai was forced to take a few steppes back, as she felt terrible pain and fell to her knees as she could hardly breathe. She coughed furiously as some blood chocked her. She put a hand on her chest and the other one covered her mouth as she coughed more blood. In a second or two the Demon Chakura had already healed the serious damage and she could finally breathe again.

Akai looked up. The Medic was no longer there. She had lost sight of him and that was bad. She quickly got back to her feet and looked around, trying to find him. The battles around had probably stopped as it was very quiet and in the distance she could hear the Sandaime's voice. However now she could not think about that.

She cleaned the blood from her mouth while she was looking around. There was still no sign of the Oto Nin and that was not good. She started to move quietly and slowly towards the place her katana was stuck in the ground. Even though her claws were a good weapon, nothing could be as good as steel.

Then an idea came to her – he might be underground again. She kneeled and put her right hand on the ground, trying to find out if there was any Chakura underneath her. There was none. He was probably using the Meisaigakure no Jutsu again to rest for a bit and get his plan ready. Well, Akai also needed some time and this was working in her favor as well.

She couldn't believe she had let her guard down like that. Sure, the Genjutsu had a lot to do about it but yet she was not supposed to just stare at some feathers during a battle. She had completely embarrassed herself. However there was no time to worry about that now.

She stretched her hand and took her katana back in hand. Kabuto could attack any moment. Suddenly he appeared behind her and hit her hard on the upper left part of her back. However there was no shriek of pain, or anything like that, which he had expected. In stead the person before him burst into flames which burned his hand as he pulled back.

In that moment she appeared from the ground behind him and kicked him hard to the side. She grabbed her katana from the ground and turned towards him. Kabuto could hardly get up. It was obvious that this battle had continued for far too long and he was getting really exhausted. Now was the perfect time to strike – she could just run towards him and swing her katana and everything would be over.

She got ready for an attack but something stopped her. She didn't know why, but she just couldn't do it. The Rokubi growled in the back of her head to attack, to kill him. But another voice, even stronger than the Demon's told her not to do it, that he was her friend.

Akai knew that she had started this fight with the intention to break this bond, but now… Now when she finally had the opportunity… She couldn't. Now she realized that there was no power in the world that could make her dash towards him and get this over with. Nothing could make her kill him, even if he decided to kill her. Not a thing.

"Tell me," she said, "Did those years mean nothing to you? I thought we were friends. I thought we cared for each other. Didn't that mean anything to you? All the time we spent together… How can you be ready to just throw it away like that? How?"

She looked straight at him as he had finally gotten back to his feet. The woman realized that she had just thrown away her best chance to kill him, but it didn't matter since she couldn't do it anyway.

But… There was something wrong in the whole situation. Akai looked good at him and suddenly she realized it – there was no shadow underneath him. It was a Bunshin. The Leaf Nin realized that she might have just done the mistake that would cost her life but she almost jumped when a voice came from behind her.

"I'm sorry we'll have to cut this reunion short, Akai-chan" said the Medic from behind her, as he started going in the opposite direction with his back turned towards the woman, "But Orochimaru-sama needs me."

Akai couldn't understand why, but she believed him. Every ninja with some sense in their head would turn around to keep an eye on him, but she didn't. There was no real explanation, but she just… trusted him. After all just a second ago he could have killed her, and he didn't do it. She lowered her head as her eyes were shaded by her hear.

"Why?" her voice made the Medic stop as he turned his head a little to the side and looked at her from the corner of his eyes. She hadn't moved. She hadn't even turned towards him. She just stood there, with her head lowered and her katana in hand. "Why didn't you kill me? Didn't Orochimaru order you to do it? You just had the best opportunity! Why?"

It was not really a nice thing to ask a person you think of as a friend, why he hadn't killed you, but in this situation it was completely appropriate. Or so Akai thought as she stood with her back towards him, wondering if he would even answer.

A small smirk appeared on her opponent's lips as he said the words that made Akai regret everything she had ever thought he was and realize how wrong she had been.

"What kind of a person would kill a friend?"

The woman's head snapped up as her eyes widened. In the shock she even dropped her katana. She just stood there for a second trying to understand what he had just said.

"Kabuto-!" she almost yelled as she suddenly turned around, but he was no longer there.

There was a little cloud of smoke where he had been and nothing else. The wind blew trough her hair as she just stood there and looked at the place. She could hardly believe what he had said to her. His words repeated in her head as she stood there.

Suddenly the Chakura that surrounded her started to pull back. First the wings and the tail disappeared and then all the Chakura that surrounded her, as the seal on her palm became invisible again. Her eyes turned back to the usual red color. She felt that usual weariness she felt every time after she used Rokubi's Chakura. She knew perfectly well that she would loose consciousness as she felt her legs giving up beneath her, and yet she couldn't stop thinking about what he had said.

'_A friend… So it did mean something. I guess I was wrong. Some things might actually stay the same,_' she thought as she fell to the ground and with a small smile, she welcomed the unconsciousness.

_**To Be Continued…**_

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_**Chapter Seven: Unexpected Enemies – The Weasel and the Shark**_

_Of course. Just her luck. It hadn't been a day since she had woken up and she was about to enter another battle. She wouldn't have expected anything less and yet she would have been happy if she could've at lest rested for a day or two, but apparently that was impossible…_

_**Author's notes:**_

_Again, thank you, __**Hikari The Emo Queen of OCness**__ for your reviews – they make my day really happy. You're great, Hikari-chan! hugs her_

_Ok, I have to warn you that the next chapter is still not completed. I started it at the end of the school year, but then I had a HUGE author's block and I hardly wrote anything. After that I had guests and I hadn't written anything for almost a month. I started writing it again yesterday (and I had to re-write everything that I had written before and that took a lot of time). I'll do everything in my power to finish the chapter on time but I'm telling you this, so you won't kill me if it comes out a bit late. _

_And one last thing - to those whom I promised to read their stories: I feel like I'm going to have a hard time with my next few chapters, but I'll spare as much time as I can to read them. _


	9. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven: Unexpected Enemies – The Weasel and the Shark**

The sunlight that fell on her eyes made her move a little. She had enjoyed just lying like that for… she didn't actually know for how long. For the moment her mind was blank. She couldn't recall what had happened and why her body felt stiff, like it hadn't been moved from days, and to be honest, she enjoyed this time, when she didn't have to worry about anything. It was refreshing like she was taking a small break from her everyday life.

As Akai lied calmly, giving way to the careless part of her mind, the unwelcomed past events slowly came back to her – the attack, the battle… Kabuto. It was a mystery how long she had bean unconscious, though she really wished she knew. Every time the woman used Rokubi's Chakura she fell unconscious for a different period of time. It was usually between a day and a week, but there had been times when she didn't wake up an entire month.

The Jinchuriki decided that the best way to get some kind of answer was to look around and, who knows, maybe she would see a calendar or something. She opened her eyes slowly and when the bright sunlight that fell on her face blinded her, she blinked a few times to get her eyes used to the light, and to clear her vision.

The surprise came when she realized that she was back in Kakashi's apartment. Wasn't she supposed to be in a hospital, or something? Maybe not. Well, there was time to worry about that, but she knew perfectly well that if she wanted to know what had happened she was supposed to ask somebody. And that meant she was supposed to find that somebody…

"It was about time you woke up," a voice from her right said. Akai jumped a little in the bed and as she quickly sat up she looked to the side and saw none other than Kakashi. "Yo," he said as he curved his eyes and waved with his only free hand – he was holding the small orange book in the other one.

"Nii-san!" the woman exclaimed. "Don't scare me like that! I just woke up! And by the way, what am I doing here?" the girl asked as she looked around and realized she was not only in the apartment, but she was lying on the bed in his bedroom. Everything was just like before. The only difference was that her skirt, together with her katana, kunai holster and forehead protector were put on a chair near the bed.

"Well, the hospital was crowded and they sent everyone who didn't need immediate medical care home, and since you only had to rest for a bit, you ended up here," explained Kakashi as he looked at her from his place, next to the wall.

"Oh, I see," muttered the woman as she remembered another thing that she really wanted to know. "What about Orochimaru's attack? What happened, Nii-san? How many are the casualties?"

"The defense went quite good. Konoha lost just a few Shinobi, but…" her brother trailed off for a second and as he looked her in the eye with a serious face he continued, "Sandaime-sama fought against Orochimaru on his own. The battle was amazing, but the Hokage lost."

The news hit Akai as she gasped and her eyes widened. She knew that Orochimaru was really powerful, but to defeat, no, to kill the Sandaime Hokage? The woman really wished she could have done something… Not that she thought that she could beat the snake, and yet… She might have bean able to help… If only she hadn't fought against Kabuto at that time…

Her eyes drifted to the side. Her hands were clenched into fists as she narrowed her eyes. Orochimaru had really done it this time! The woman was sure she was not going to stop, until she heard the news that the snake had fallen. Just the thought of how many lives he had ruined made her more and more angry, but she closed her eyes for a second and calmed herself down.

"How long was I out?" she asked, braking the silence that had fallen around them.

"Not long - just a few days. You missed the funeral, though," Kakashi said as he looked back in his book.

"How are Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke?" the woman continued with the questions, wanting to know exactly what had happened in those 'few days'.

"They're doing fine," answered Kakashi. "As a matter of fact, I'm supposed to meat with Sasuke in… fifteen minutes," he added carelessly after he glanced quickly at the clock.

"Nii-san!" Akai exclaimed, "Stop being late everywhere you go!" and after she said that she quickly added, "I'm going to come with you and make sure you're not late this time!" she jumped from the bed and quickly put on her skirt, tied her headband on her left leg and her kunai holster on her right, put the katana on her back and she was ready. "Now, let's go."

"You're going to ruin my reputation like that, you know," her brother said as they exited the apartment.

Outside the sun was shining brightly and everything was lively. There were crowds everywhere. Some houses and shops were being repaired or rebuild, but there was not that much damage from the attack. Above the village, on the Hokage monument a crack on the face of the Sandaime Hokage could clearly be seen.

As they were walking along, Akai looked to the sides of the streets, checking the damage and memorizing the destroyed places. Due to their location, the woman could see that Orochimaru hadn't changed his plan, before attacking – she remembered clearly that the same spots were supposed to be the main points of the attack, and even though those places were guarded by many ANBU units and other capable Shinobi, there was some damage done.

In those places, there were many people working on the destroyed areas. Though there weren't a lot of ninjas there. Akai could only guess that they were sent all around on missions, considering the relationships with the other villages, and most importantly with Sunagakure no Sato.

Though there was the question who gave those missions, since there was no Hokage… Probably the Council. Akai cold now see how important the mission given to her from Orochimaru had been. If she had actually killed the Elder, there would have been big problems around the Hidden Leaf right now.

Right now the Council was supposed to work on finding a new Hokage…

Though finding someone, suitable to be a Fire Shadow would be really hard these days, at least Akai thought so. The Council would probably turn towards the Sannin, but… Orochimaru was out of the question, Tsunade had run away, and Jiraiya… Jiraiya was probably the most unsuited person to be Hokage… And as far as the woman knew him, he would never agree on something like that…

But she could only guess that they had to act fast. Maybe Konoha had faced this treat with heroism and gone trough it quite good, there was no guarantee that the other countries won't take this as an opportunity to strike. The woman knew that the peace treaties had been active for quite too long – Suna's attack proved that perfectly.

"Well, here we are," her brother's words brought her back to reality.

They were standing next to a teahouse, while the older man was reading his book… again. It was a miracle that they were actually on time. She was still looking around when her eyes met with two familiar figures. Seeing them, Kakashi closed his book and said:

"Hey there, you two" and then added teasingly, "My you two get along well."

Akai laughed as Kurenai blushed a little and looked away.

"Baka, I'm only here, because Anko asked me to buy some dumplings for her," said the Kunoichi.

"And what are you two doing here?" asked Asuma as he eyed the siblings.

"Well, I came to buy an offering…" Kakashi started, but he was interrupted.

"And we're meeting someone here," the red haired ninja continued his words.

"Sasuke, that is," said her brother, as he looked to the side.

The other three secretly followed his gaze and saw two figures sitting in the teahouse. They were both wearing black cloaks with high collars and red clouds on them. They also had big hats with bells tied on them that hid their entire faces. Seeing how one of the fingers of the close figure twitched when the name was said, Akai narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Oh? It's unusual for you to wait for someone, Kakashi," said the Shinobi as he smiled a little. "Is the offering for Obito?" he asked.

"Obito?" it seamed as Kurenai didn't quite catch what they meant.

"Something like that," said the Sharingan user.

"Kakashi," came Sasuke's voice from their right. He was walking down the street towards them and stopped next to Akai. "It's unusual for you to be here first."

"I do it from time to time," the Jounin's answer seamed to leave the boy speechless.

"Ah, don't listen to him! If I hadn't rushed him he would still be home, reading that book," Akai said teasingly as she looked at her brother.

"I don't like natto and sweets," said the boy with his usual irritated expression, after his eyes drifted towards the now empty seats of the two cloaked figures.

"Oh, really?" asked Kakashi, as he looked towards the other two Jounin.

They nodded slightly and then disappeared. Seeing that Akai decided to do something about the whole scene. Akatsuki were here, and that was not a good sign.

"Ok then, I'm going to mind my own business and leave you two alone. See you," said the girl and completely ignored the look her brother sent her way.

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Two cloaked figures were walking on the road next to the river. Their black cloaks were decorated with red clouds and had high collars and long sleeves. The hats they were wearing were big and hid their faces quite well.

Suddenly they were forced to stop, seeing that three people appeared in front of them. Kurenai, Asuma and Akai stood there, looking at them seriously.

The red haired woman knew that her brother would kill her for coming here, and yet she couldn't just leave this the way it was. And besides her curiosity had said its word – she really wanted to see what those two were doing here.

For a few seconds the five people just stared at one another, until Asuma finally talked:

"You are not from this village, are you?" he asked, and then added, "Why are you here?"

"It's been a while, Asuma-san, Kurenai-san, Akai-san," said the shorter figure.

"Yeah, long time no see," muttered the red haired woman, as she didn't loose either of the two from her sight.

The one, who had spoken, slowly brought his hand up and lifted his hat a little, so his eyes could be seen. Bright red eyes with comma-like shapes in them stared at the three.

"Y-you're…" said Asuma with disbelief.

The Sharingan user took off his hat and then opened the collar of his cloak, so his face was now clearly visible. He wore a Konoha headband with a streak in the middle. Akai hadn't seen him for some time, and yet she could recognize him.

"No doubt about it, it's… Uchiha… Itachi," said Asuma with a small smirk.

"You know these two people, Itachi-san?" asked the other person next to him. "Then I should introduce myself, too," and saying that he took off his hat to uncover a blue face, with three strange marks under each eye, and a scratched forehead protector of the Mist, "Hoshigaki Kisame. Nice to make your acquaintance. And hello again, Akai-chan. You left Orochimaru, ne _(right_)? At least that's what I've heard," he said with a smirk.

"Yes, though that shouldn't matter, since ever since he left your group I've had nothing to do with you!" answered the woman.

She had never liked Akatsuki and was kind of relieved when Orochimaru left them, for they had shown no clue that they know about Rokubi's whereabouts.

"You're not making any acquaintance here…" Asuma smirked as well. "I'm going to eliminate you two right here, right now."

"Itachi-san, it seams like you're hated in this village," Kisame said quietly to his companion.

"I also know you," said Kurenai as she was staring at the taller one. "Hoshigaki Kisame, former Kirigakure (_Hidden Village of Mist_) Shinobi. You're a renegade ninja, wanted by numerous countries, including the Country of Water, for assassinating a Feudal lord and sabotage, as well as various other crimes…"

"You're S-rank fellows in the Bingo Book," said Asuma this time. "Itachi, you come back to this village, after what you've pulled… You've got a lot of guts coming here."

"Asuma-san, Kurenai-san, Akai-san… Please don't get involved with my work," Itachi said. "I have no intention of killing you."

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'**It's a little too late for you,'** Rokubi's voice sounded in her head.

'_Urusai!'_ the woman snapped back, _'They don't know that I'm a Jinchuriki! Do you think they would be so kind, if they knew? Besides, it's better for both of us this way. You don't get disturbed, and I don't get killed.'_

'**His work might be to get us,' **he Demon insisted, sounding really annoyed.

'_Would he ask me not to get involved if it was?' _Akai protested, _'Stop thinking that everything's about you!'_

'**Then who is it about?'** the Bijuu snapped back at her.

'_Well…_' the woman took some time to think, and then it hit her, _'Kyuubi! Kyuubi and Naruto! Kuso, they're after Naruto!' _

'**Let them take care of that annoying Kitsune. I can't stand him anyway,'** the Washi said with satisfaction.

'_Maybe you can't stand Kyuubi, but I like Naruto, and I'm going to stop those two!'_ she said and turned her back to the Demon.

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"That's not something that a guy, who killed his own clan members can say," said Asuma seriously. "I know you wouldn't come here without a reason… what is your purpose?"

"This person is quite annoying," said Kisame as he crashed Samehada in the ground in front of him, making a cloud of dust to rise. "Shall I kill him?"

Suddenly Akai felt really sorry that she had never been too interested in this organization. She had known the members, but never seen them in action. The girl knew nothing about their powers and fighting style. Though it wasn't that hard to guess that Itachi probably used Genjutsu, and Kisame fought with that sword. But the thing always seemed to be bandaged and the woman didn't know what it really looked like. Neither did she know if there was something more to it. She sighed.

Of course. Just her luck. It hadn't been a day since she had woken up and she was about to enter another battle. She wouldn't have expected anything less and yet she would have been happy if she could've at lest rested for a day or two, but apparently that was impossible…

"It looks like we cannot leave this village without a fight" Itachi said. "But don't overdo it. Your moves stand out too much," he added.

"Then it's settled," the other Akatsuki member said.

Kisame took his sword from the ground, revealing the hole that had been made by it and he rested it on his right shoulder.

For a short while everyone just stared at one another and then Itachi let go of his hat. As it hit the ground and the bells rang, it was the start of the battle.

Kisame attacked, as he tried to cut Asuma, but the Jounin jumped back. Moving quickly, Kisame tried to land another hit with Samehada, but matching his speed, the Konoha Shinobi took out his Chakura knives and blocked the attack.

From behind Kurenai took a step back and made a few handseals. Suddenly her body started to disappear and she vanished completely.

'_This is… a Genjutsu'_ thought Itachi.

As Kisame was pushing hard with Samehada, making it difficult for Asuma to stand his ground, Akai decided to move in. Concentrating some Chakura in her feet to be faster and stronger, she ran forward and tried to kick the blue skinned Akatsuki member. Her kick was dodged, as Kisame pulled back, leaving some space for Asuma and the red haired woman.

Then he jumped towards them again and as Asuma blocked his sword for the second time, it was not fast enough and the bandaged blade touched his left shoulder. Kisame smirked and said with satisfaction.

"My big blade, Samehada…" saying that he pulled his sword back, as the bandages got cut and revealed the strange sword that was formed by many small blades. As it was pulled back, they cut badly trough Asuma's shoulder, making some blood to come out. "Does not slice. It shaves!"

"Asuma-san!' exclaimed the woman from next to the Jounin, as he caught his wounded arm.

"Kurenai, you're late," said the Shinobi, as he smirked.

Suddenly two big trees caught both Itachi and Kisame in a trap. From the trunk of the one around the Sharingan user, the body of Kurenai started to appear and soon she was hanging over him with a kunai in hand.

"This is… it!" she said as she tried to cut Itachi.

In a second everything went around and the Uchiha was standing free, in front of the Kunoichi, who was trapped in her own Genjutsu.

"A Genjutsu of this level won't wonk on me," said the Akatsuki member.

'This is… a Genjutsu counter.' Hearing as Kurenai's thoughts seemed troubled, Akai decided to help.

She quickly got two kunai from her kunai holster and threw them towards the weasel. He dodged back, as the black haired woman bit her lip to escape from the Jutsu. She managed to get free just in time to cross her hands in front of her face, as Itachi kicked her hard and that sent her flying back.

"Kurenai!"

"Kurenai-san!"

Both yells were directed towards the woman who fell into the cold water of the river. However another voice made both of them turn towards the shark again.

"You two have no time to look away from me!"

This time his attacks were directed at Akai, as the Jounin jumped back, dodging them. She could swear she heard Kakashi's voice from the place Kurenai was, but there was no time to check. Taking out her katana, the woman blocked Kisame's attack with it.

Suddenly from the side, Asuma charged towards him, but it looked like his Chakura knife couldn't land a hit.

"Nani!?" exclaimed the Akatsuki member, as a scratch clearly appeared on his cheek. Then he took a better look at the Jounin's Chakura knives and saw how the edges seemed to be continued by light blue Chakura. Then Kisame made a few handseals and said, "Suiton _(Water element)_…" the water to his left started to move, as it took form and began to head towards the two, as he finished the name of the attack, "Suikoudan no Jutsu _(Water Shark Missile). _

In the same moment, however another voice was heard from behind them, who said the same words in exactly the same time as him. The two water creations crashed into each other and they disappeared.

"The same technique as mine?" Kisame said in disbelief.

"Why did you come here?" asked Asuma a little irritated.

"Nii-san!" Akai exclaimed as she realized that she was probably going to be in trouble.

"I asked you and Kurenai to deal with them back there…" answered Kakashi, "but you know, I got worried that Akai might join you." Another form of the Jounin that was behind Itachi finished the sentence.

"Kage Bunshin _(Shadow Clone)_?" said Kurenai surprised after she heard his voice and turned towards him.

"Hatake Kakashi,' spoke the Uchiha, as he turned his head and Sharingan met Sharingan. _'His eyes are still the same as before'_ Kakashi thought, _'But then again, he's a true hair of the Sharingan… I have to assume the worse case scenario.'_

"This is a surprise. No wonder you could do that with my Jutsu," Kisame's voice made Akai turn towards him again. "I wouldn't have believed that someone had the same eyes as Itachi-san if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Your name was… The Copy Cat Ninja Kakashi."

"I'm the one who's surprised," the older Hatake said, staring at him. "I saw some weird guys at the teahouse and wondered who they could be… And they turned out to be Uchiha Itachi… and the Monster from Kirigakure, Hoshigaki Kisame."

"My, my, you know my name too. I'm honored," the Akatsuki member replied.

"I see… You're one of the Seven Shinobi-gatana of the Mist… and that large blade of yours must be Samehada," the Copy Cat Ninja said.

"I heard that kid Zabuza fought you," Kisame chuckled.

"Yeah," as he said that, Kakashi put his right hand behind his back and the sound on metal could be heard as he moved a kunai. Kisame reacted immediately and raised his blade.

"I'll enjoy shaving you to death," he said as he pointed towards Kakashi with Samehada.

"Stop, Kisame," Itachi's voice made everybody look at him. "If you fight him head on you will suffer unnecessary injuries. Also if we take too much time, more ninjas will arrive."

"But…"

"Don't forget our purpose. You did not come here to get hurt."

"Then tell us that purpose of yours," insisted Kakashi, as the clone before Asuma disappeared.

"We just came here to find something we're looking for," answered Itachi.

"Something you're looking for?" Kakashi echoed. "And what exactly are you looking for?" he asked as he brought his kunai up.

"I won't take as long as Kisame if I do this," the Missing Nin said as he looked straight at the Konoha Jounin.

All that was seen afterwards was Itachi's hand, showing from under the long sleeves and how Kakashi jumped back, calling a water Jutsu. The water from underneath him Rose and formed something like a wall around him, protecting him from whatever danger there was. It quickly disappeared after that.

"Very nice, Kakashi-san. Your eye of insight is impressive," the enemy said.

"Kage Bunshin?" Kurenai said as she saw the copy of Itachi that appeared behind the grey haired man, striking him with a kunai in the back. "He used his technique too fast."

But before anything could happen, Kakashi turned into water.

'A Mizu Bunshin (Water Clone)? A mere Copy Cat Ninja can use so many Jutsus from my village? Impressive,' the other Akatsuki member thought as he watched the fight.

"Nice, Kakashi," said Kurenai as she reached in the water and took out a kunai from Kakashi, who was obviously swimming underneath her.

"Watch out, Kurenai," he said, as he surfaced from the water, and caught the woman by her waist and jumped back. "This one is the Kage Bunshin."

Suddenly the clone exploded and a great mass of water rose in the air. Both Asuma and Akai yelled the two Jounin's names as the older one jumped to attack. The woman, however, stood there, ready to fight Kisame, if needed. In a second the three forms could be seen as the water fell on top of them as rain. Kakashi was standing with his back turned towards the Sharingan user.

"Don't put your guard down," said the Copy Cat Nin, as he turned his head towards the Akatsuki member. "He's the man, who became an ANBU leader at the age of thirteen."

"I didn't expect him to be this strong," said Asuma as he and Kurenai turned into defense positions.

"Iiya (No), he hasn't shown his full strength yet," Kakashi said as he didn't look away from the enemy.

"I'm impressed that you can use your Sharingan so well even though you are not part of the Uchiha clan," Itachi said as the silver haired Jounin turned towards him. "But your body is not an Uchiha body, which the eye needs to work best."

'_He's right. I tire easily.'_

"I will show you why the clan of Uchiha was feared and reputed to be unmatched," said the Missing Nin as he closed his eyes. "The Sharingan… the Bloodline Limit's true power."

"Masaka! This is bad" said Kakashi, as his eyes widened. "The three of you! Don't look into his eyes!" both Asuma and Kurenai shut their eyes, as Kakashi left only the left, Sharingan eye opened. "Don't open your eyes. If you see his eyes right now, you're dead."

------------------------------------

'**You don't have to close yours,'** Rokubi's voice sounded in Akai's head.

'_Nani!? You want me dead or something!?_' the woman snapped at her.

'**As a matter of fact, I do, but that's not the reason,'** the figure shuffled a little in her mind, as she stood up and looked straight at the girl with her dark eyes, which seemed black, because of the poor light. **'You can use my Chakura to stop the effect of killing, which his eyes have."**

'_Excuse me?'_ the woman couldn't believe her words.

'**My Chakura is not like the one of you, humans. It is far more complicated and far more powerful. With a big enough part of it, concentrated in front of your eyes, it can create a strong enough barrier that can stop that one function of the Mangekyou Sharingan,'** the Demon explained. **'It's as simple as that. Besides in your last fight you showed that you can't fight without seeing your opponent. And you should keep in mind that this brat is far stronger than the one you fought during the attack of that snake.'**

'_I understand,_' said the woman as she swallowed and then prepared herself to use the Chakura.

------------------------------------

Concentrating carefully, Akai used a part of Rokubi's Chakura and focused it in her eyes, as she closed them. Being very careful, she used the needed amount of Chakura and formed something like a barrier in front of them, as the Bijuu had told her to do. As she opened her eyes she somehow knew that their color had changed again. Dark brown orbs were in the place of her bright red ones, but that didn't trouble the woman.

"Only a person with the Sharingan can deal with this Jutsu right now," said Kakashi as the red haired woman smirked slightly.

"It is true, that if you have the Sharingan, you can resist the Mangekyou Sharingan a little," Itachi agreed, "However… You cannot counter this special Doujutsu _(Eye Technique_)… The Genjutsu, Tsukuyomi. Only a person, who has the same Bloodline as me, a Sharingan user can, defeat me."

"Sasuke?" Kakashi's voice sounded strange and in a second his eye widened.

As suddenly as that, Kakashi fell down to his knees and supported himself with his hands, breathing hard. Akai quickly ran towards him, forgetting about Kisame.

"Nii-san! Are you ok? What's wrong?" she exclaimed as she looked at him worried.

"What's wrong, Kakashi?" asked Kurenai. "You still want us to keep our eyes closed?"

"Not yet… Don't open them yet," his voice sounded really week, which was certainly not like him. The red haired woman kneeled next to him, putting a hand on his back.

"Nii-san…" she said quietly, as she looked in his eyes.

"What happened?" asked Asuma, "You suddenly fell down after he stopped talking."

Kakashi managed to pull himself together, as he stepped with his right foot on the water and rested his arm on it, looking straight towards Itachi.

'_Three days in that world is less than a second in the real world?'_ he thought. _'But… Why did he not kill me? He could've if he tried.'_

"What world?" Akai asked, hearing his thoughts. "Nii-san, what the Hell happened? Are you ok?" she asked, as she was really concerned about him.

Kakashi looked towards her for just a second. The woman knew it was enough for him to see her eyes that were wide opened and, even more disturbing – dark brown in color.

"I'm fine," he said towards the woman, as he didn't wish for her to worry that much.

"Oh? You didn't experience a mental collapse after going trough that?" Kisame had just appeared next to Itachi. "But, Itachi-san… You shouldn't use those eyes too much," he added as he turned towards his partner.

"Is Sasuke what you're looking for?" asked Kakashi, who was, once again staring at them.

"Iiya. We're after the Youndaime Hokage's legacy," answered the Uchiha.

"What are they?" Kurenai asked quietly.

"Naruto?" Kakashi asked, as he didn't take his eyes away from them. "Are you after the Kyuubi inside Naruto? I know that you aren't the only ones that are moving around. The name of your organization was Akatsuki _(Red Moon)_, ne?"

Both of the enemies looked surprised at what he said, and so did the two Jounin behind him. They both turned toward him.

"Akatsuki?" asked Asuma.

"Kisame, we're going to take Kakashi-san," said the Uchiha.

At those words something snapped inside of Akai. For a second her anger towards them went above the limit in witch she could control it. Rising quickly, she found herself in front of Kakashi, clenching her katana with both hands.

"Don't… don't you dare lay a finger on him…" her voice was holding all of that anger and hate that had settled in her. "I'm not going to let you touch him!"

Her scream echoed around the place, as the seal appeared on her left palm and the red Chakura burned around her, forming the same form of an eagle with a tail around her body. She glared right at Itachi as she clenched her katana even tighter.

"I see," said the Uchiha user. "Who would have known that the missing Bijuu was right in front of us the entire time? Kisame, we've got news for the Leader when we go back."

"You're not going anywhere…" the Jinchuriki said angrily. "I won't let either of you leave this place alive!"

As she said this, she charged forward, running towards the two, but in a second the worst thing happened, as her eyes met the deadly stare of the Sharingan…

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_**Chapter Eight: In the World of Tsukuyomi – The Truth Revealed**_

"_In the world of Tsukuyomi… I control space and time… and even the mass of objects,' Itachi's voice startled the woman, as she looked his way and her eyes widened. The entire sky was a dark red color and a bloody moon hung above it all, but safe for that everything else was black and white._

_**Author's notes:**_

_Yosh! I did it! It's on time! throws punch in the air So khum, anyway… I had major problems with this chapter. Hardly finished it yesterday . I have the feeling I'll have the same problems with the next… two if not more chapters. Ah, it was easy when I had a couple of chapters written and didn't have a deadline (or at least it wasn't the end of the week)_

_Again, yes again, great thanks to __**The Emo Queen of OCness**__ for reviewing. You're awesome _

"_A Faded Smile" has over 300 hits! Yey! But I've got to ask you, people, please, review. I beg of you . falls to her knees When I don't get reviews, or I get them from one person only, I have the feeling that everybody just opens the story and doesn't read it ;.;_


	10. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight: Tsukuyomi – The truth Revealed**

For a second it seemed as time had stopped for the Kunoichi. Like everything spun and changed for a second. She stopped and was just about to look around when she heard a voice.

"In the world of Tsukuyomi… I control space and time… and even the mass of objects," Itachi's voice startled the woman, as she looked his way and her eyes widened. The entire sky was a dark red color and a bloody moon hung above it all, but safe for that everything else was black and white.

'_N-nani__…__ Tsukuyomi… That's the Genjutsu he __mentioned. But… when… how…_' Akai couldn't get her thoughts straight as she stared at the Uchiha in disbelief.

"All I need to put a person in this Genjutsu is eye contact," Itachi's voice was calm and somehow made chills go down the woman's stomach.

In a moment she realized how wrong charging straight at him had been. That mere second in which their eyes met had been the worst thing that could possibly happen in the fight. The one thing that would make the battle end before it had started was that single look that could take her life right now. Just the thought of what this Jutsu did to her brother in a second made her even more worried.

"What is this Genjutsu?" she asked, wondering weather Itachi would actually answer her.

"In this place I control space and time, and even the mass of objects. What people see in here is different for every person," his voice echoed around the place. "Starting now, you will see the deaths of your closest people for 72 hours."

"The… deaths…" the woman stared wide eyed at him. Suddenly everything around her changed.

There was not a clue to where Itachi went, as the world spun around the bloody moon. The colors remained the same – absent everywhere except in the red sky, but the place was completely different.

The place was a rocky valley where she could see three very familiar figures. The thoughts of what Itachi had said and the people before her made her realize what was about to happen.

Kakashi, Rin and Obito were standing in the valley as the Uchiha had his goggles pulled up and the Sharingan was burning in his eyes. On the other hand Kakashi's left eye was bandaged and some blood could be seen on the white material.

Suddenly a voice cut trough everything.

"Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi! (_Earth Element: Rock Lodging Destruction_)"

The Iwa Nin could be seen between the rocks that started falling towards the trio. The sound of rumbling boulders was the only thing that could be heard in the entire valley. Dust arose, following the rocks that chased the team and in a second nothing could be seen.

The rocks had all fallen, except for the biggest boulder. The dust was settling down, as Akai could clearly see how her brother fell in the way of the rock, probably hit by another. In mere moments Obito stopped in his tracks, and turned around. His next actions were just an act against all hope. In a moment he was next to Kakashi, throwing him out of the way of the boulder, the next, he could not escape the rocks and as dust was brought up once more, not a word could be heard from him, until…

"Are you ok… Rin… Kakashi…?" it sounded as the young Uchiha was saying every word with effort.

The two ninjas were just getting up and both of them looked at their teammate with horror and disbelief. Only half of his face and his left arm could be seen from under the rock where he was lying. Blood had gone down his mouth and his one visible eye was looking straight towards his two teammates. Two identical yells of his name could be heard, as they rushed towards him.

Kakashi cursed, as he tried to move the boulder away from his fallen friend, but it looked like he could do absolutely nothing about it, for the rock was too big.

"That's enough… It's ok… Kakashi…" Obito's voice was really weak and unsteady. "It looks like it's over for me… The right side of my body is almost smashed… There's no feeling in it…"

Hearing those words, the young Jounin stopped his efforts, panting and looked towards the Uchiha with his only visible eye.

"No… this… why…" Rin was starting to cry as she watched her friend just lie there, under the boulder.

Obito coughed and spit out some blood that had been choking him. Seeing this, the Medic called his name and went next to him, as Kakashi's fist met the ground with a curse – the boy was now on his knees.

"I… From the beginning if I'd gone along with what you'd said and went with you to rescue Rin… Something like this wouldn't have happened!" his voice was shaking with fury and anger, directed towards himself. "What kind of commander… What kind of Jounin…"

"Hey… no… Forget it…" The words that came from the dying boy's mouth startled his two teammates as they stared right at him. "I'm… the only one… who didn't… give you a present… at your Jounin celebration… Right… Kakashi… What would be good… I was thinking… And… now… I've come up with it… What… Don't worry… It's not… useless… baggage… It's… this Sharingan… of mine…"

His words left both of the other Leaf Nins speechless. None knew what to say, none knew what to do.

"The people in the village…" continued the Uchiha, "What they have been saying… That you're… a great Jounin… That's… how I feel… Please accept it… Rin… with your Medical Jutsu… Please take out my Sharingan… and implant it… into Kakashi's left eye…" as he said that the girl dried her tears and looked towards the silver hared boy.

"Kakashi, come over here! So we can start quickly!" her voice was shaken with emotion, but her eyes were full of determination to make her dying friend's last wish come true.

"I'm already… going to die…" said Obito again, "But… I can become your eye… And from now on I will see the future…"

His words were followed by nothing but silence and Akai could not break it. She was on the edge of tears and nothing from the picture actually registered in her mind any more. Just the image of one of her closest people dying in front of her eyes repeated again and again.

She could hear a few voices and sounds. Birds… thousands of birds chipping… And then it came… more rumbling. The image of Kakashi pulling Rin away from the place, and the rocks burying Obito stood in her mind like it was painted there and would never go away.

She was hurting deeply inside, just thinking of her friend and what she had just seen. Her eyes were wet and a few tears started going down her cheeks, but she quickly brushed them away, when the place started spinning again and she appeared in a completely different place.

It was in the middle of a forest. The darkness surrounded everything. There was a group of Nins, fighting in the darkness. Between all of them, the woman could recognize two familiar figures. Rin was standing with a kunai in one hand, as her other one was loaded with Chakura. Next to her, Kakashi was fighting away the enemies.

Save for them, there were six more Konoha Shinobi, defending themselves from the furious attack. Their enemies – all Iwagakure Ninjas - were in big numbers and they were attacking with everything they had. Many of them were falling to the ground, as the small group began to loose members. Two Shinobi had already fallen and even from the place the woman was, she could clearly see how the others were getting tired.

Two kunai managed to get trough Kakashi's defense and went straight to Rin, who dodged one of them and hit the other one with her own, protecting herself. She looked at her teammate with worry as he was starting to get slower. Many wounds were already opened trough out his body and there was a lot of blood.

"Kakashi, please! Let me heal you!' said the girl. "You can't fight like that!"

The silver haired Shinobi ignored her and just continued the fight.

A little to the right another one of the small group fell to the ground. The Medic Nin rushed towards him, and as she saw that he was still alive, she rushed her Chakura on his wounds, trying to save his life. In a while his condition was stabilized, but another one had fallen, this time dead.

Rin was just about to go to him, when she heard a yell from her other side. In a second, she swung around, only to see how Kakashi hit the ground with a terrible wound on his chest. The girl yelled his name, as in an instant she was next to him, trying to save his life.

From the side, where Akai was, she watched the scene, shaking. Everything that she had seen until now could never match the terrible things that were being shown to her now. Every shock she had felt until now could never match what she was feeling now.

The way her brother was fighting like the only thing that mattered was for Rin to be ok. The way the Medic tried to help him, but he didn't listen to her. The way her female friend tried her hardest to save his life, like that was the goal of her life…

It all seemed so different than anything the woman had ever imagined. Just now she realized how wrong she had been.

Many things had probably changed after Obito's and her mother's death and her disappearing, but in a completely different way than she imagined.

But the surrounding scene did not let her space out. Rin continued doing everything she could to save Kakashi, as the remaining two Leaf Nins were fighting with all they had, to defend themselves and the Medic. It was like the enemies actually became fewer and fewer. That gave them strength and hopes, as each of them ate a Soldier pill and rushed in with new power.

The Kunoichi refused to stop treating her teammate's wounds, even when a kunai flew a few centimeters from her face. She didn't even shudder. She had concentrated at the almost fatal wound on his chest that was bleeding really badly. It seemed as every passing second his hart could stop because of the blood loss. Tears started going down her cheeks as she concentrated all of her remaining Chakura at his wound, and finally it stopped bleeding.

Kakashi slowly opened his eyes and after he blinked a few times to see what had happened he met with Rin's smiling face.

"Kakashi! Thank Kami! For a moment I thought…"

She never got to finish as a gasp escaped her lips. A little blood found itself going slowly down from the corner of her mouth as her eyes became glassy. She fell down, on top of the shocked boy.

Kakashi pushed himself up to a sitting position, holding her carefully. He called her name, but she didn't move. Suddenly he felt something warm drop from her. It was blood. Her blood.

In a second Kakashi saw the kunai that was sticking out of the left side of her back. His mismatched eyes widened at the realization that the blade had gone straight through her hearth, killing her instantly. He could feel himself shaking. He called her again, knowing she won't answer. A tear escaped the Sharingan eye as it slipped down his check.

And he wasn't the only one crying. To the side the red haired woman tried to stop her tears, but she couldn't take it anymore. She closed her eyes, but nothing changed. The bloody image of her friend was still in front of her.

"Stop!" she said, knowing Itachi could hear her. "Stop it! That's enough! Stop it!"

But no response could be heard. Not a voice or a sound from around, and before she knew it everything started spinning around the red moon again until it settled down in a completely different place and time.

Akai could not mistake this place. It was Konoha, but not the Konoha she knew and loved. The place was completely destroyed – the forests were on fire; the houses – turned into ruins; blood covered the ground. The villagers were running towards the stone faces. Children were crying, women were screaming.

An earthquake appeared out of nowhere, as another building crashed on top of a running family as their screams stopped forever.

A demonic roar echoed somewhere from behind her. The woman turned around and the sight made her eyes widen. A giant red fox with nine tails stood in front of hundreds of ninjas. Many bodies covered the ground and blood was everywhere – on the ground and the trees, around the monster's mouth, and even on the defending Shinobi and Kunoichi.

Akai stood there, the tears still fresh on her face, and watched in disbelief. So this is what that night was like. That terrible October night in which Konoha lost so much. She started trembling, realizing what was ahead of her to see.

A flash of yellow went between the many people, as a certain figure stood before them. The Hokage was holding a blanket in his arms and from it the head of a baby could be seen – the same blond hair and blue eyes as his own.

"Get back!" his voice was serious and full of determination. "I'll handle things from here on!"

The people listened to their leader and started retreating back to the burning village. Many of them though just took a few steps back and stood there to see what their hero will do.

Putting the baby in a more comfortable position, the Yondaime made a few hand seals and then he spoke the words for the Kuchiyose no Jutsu, as he slapped his one free hand on the ground. A big cloud of smoke surrounded him and the baby as seconds later the man was standing on Gamabunta's back.

The sky was dark. Clouds hid the red moon as lightning struck and for an instant everything could be seen perfectly. A few small drops fell from the sky and not long after the rain became really strong.

In the light of another lightning a flash of grey could be seen. Akai turned her gaze and saw Kakashi, who had just arrived from the village. His face was dark and the girl could see sadness in the visible black eye. The young Jounin stopped in the front of the crowd, which was watching the Yondaime.

Hearing another roar, the woman turned towards the battle again. The Kyuubi looked terrifying, but neither Gamabunta, nor the one on his back showed any fear. The Yondaime put the little child in front of himself, as he bit his thumb and started to paint some signs on the newborn's body. When that was ready he stood up and looked straight at the Demon.

Lightning struck again and his face was lighted by it. His blue eyes beamed with determination as he stood straight in front of the terrifying creature. The usual smiling and carefree expression on his face was gone, and now he looked deadly serious.

The noises had come down to the minimum. No more screams could be heard neither from the village, nor from the patching people. The only thing that broke the silence was the rain, as the fire had already disappeared under the drops of water that fell from the sky.

And then it was time for the Hokage to do his final attempt in stopping the monster. He raised his hands and with admirable speed made the needed seals and it was like even the rain went quiet at the moment he spoke the words for the technique.

"Shiki Fujin _(Dead Demon Consuming Seal)_"

Akai's eyes widened as she saw the figure behind the Yondaime. The creature had white hair with two horns a little above its forehead. It was wearing white robes that covered its entire body and it had a knife in its mouth.

_'So… This is the Shinigami…'_ the woman shivered in front the symbol of death.

But the thing that startled her even more was that from the Yondaime's stomach a blue, almost invisible arm appeared and stretched towards the Kyuubi. Just a moment after, it grabbed the monster and with a deafening roar everything exploded in light. Nothing could be seen in a few minutes, but the girl could hear her old Sensei saying the names of two seals: "Shishou Fuin (_Four Symbols Seal_)" and "Hakke no Fuin Shiki (_Eight Trigrams Sealing Style_)".

The moments went by and the light disappeared. Voices started to cheer when they saw that the Kyuubi was gone, but two people in the crowd looked more sorrowful that happy – Sarutobi and Kakashi. It was clearly obvious who knew about the Hokage's decision.

Then another wave of happiness went above the place and everybody rushed towards the giant frog, but the people stopped in their tracks when they saw the figure of their leader falling lifelessly from its back. The Sandaime caught him, before he hit the ground and laid him carefully on the ground, as the other ninjas started to approach him slowly in disbelief.

But Akai didn't see that. She couldn't see anything now, safe for the Yellow Flash' lifeless face. His glassy eyes could not leave her mind as she clenched her eyes, while the tears were freely sliding down her cheeks.

Suddenly Itachi's figure appeared in front of her again and his voice sounded above everything else.

"71 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds left."

The woman's head shot up as she stared in him with disbelief.

"This was all… All of this… one second…"

Her body was shaking. She didn't think she could withstand all of this. Seeing the closest people to her being killed one after another, over and over again… Akai knew she won't be able to stand it. No matter what she did and how much she tried. Just from this one time she was left crying and wishing with her entire hart that she had never charged at him.

But nothing could stop the illusion. Absolutely nothing. In her mind every one of those scenes started to repeat again and again, as she had the feeling that her heart was breaking into millions tiny peaces every single time. The pain was more than she could stand…

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As Akai was running towards the Missing Nin, suddenly it looked like she tripped and fell flat on her face in the water. Hardly keeping herself from loosing consciousness, she felt the need to breath, but couldn't allow herself to inhale water. However her limbs were so heavy that she couldn't move a finger.

Even now, when she was finally out of the Genjutsu, she could still see those pictures in her mind. Obito's half crushed body, Rin's shocked expression and the Yondaime's lifeless face haunted her, as she sunk deeper and deeper in the cold water.

Was this going to be her end? What a way for a Kunoichi… no, for a Jinchuriki to lose her life – by drowning. Her body protested against the los of oxygen as she finally gave up and opened her mouth, letting the little air go to the surface in the shape of many bubbles. Her eyes started closing and in a second everything became black.

_'Is it like this when you die?'_ she thought, _'It's so peaceful…'_

**'No, bakamono!**** This is when you're too lazy to move your body!'** growled the Bijuu from the back of her mind, but Akai ignored her completely. This was not a time which the woman wanted to spend arguing with Rokubi.

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by a hand that caught her and pulled her out of the freezing Hell that the water was for her. Being finally taken out of there she gasped for air and felt relief as it filled her lings. The slight wind blew trough her now soaked hair as she felt the heat of the sun on her face.

Finally knowing, that she was safe, Akai relaxed and let herself fall into unconsciousness, hoping that it will take away all of the terrifying visions in her mind…

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_**Chapter **__**Nine: A Double Surprise – Sasuke's Departure… And More**_

_Akai looked at the figure of her young friend. How could somebody do this… to one of the few people that actually cared for him…? How could somebody just leave his life, his friends, his love ones behind, just so he could seek power…? It was beyond her power to understand that…_

_**Author's notes:**_

_Ok, if there's actually a person, reading this, who had read my other __Fanfic__ he would clearly see the way the same theory about Rin's death repeats. Well, it's just that I believe that theory and I'm sticking to it (Dattebayo!!!)_

_Wow, I actually made it on time. Ok, so__it's 3 am in the morning __on Saturday __and I'm still writing the Author'__s Tot__es, but I can't believe I wrote it on time! __And I had actually done half of it last week… Yare __yare__… I'm so lazy… (No, actually, I'm not it's just that I have a lot of other work and all… -.-)_

_Ok, I officially say that I don't know weather I can keep the updates on time from now on. I'm really sorry, but you see I started playing this RPG and I just can't force myself to leave it and it's taking over almost all of my free time. There had also been rumors that I may go on a holiday for a week (I repeat, rumors) but there is such a possibility. And things are going to get really bad once I start school again… But let's not worry about that now._

_I haven't forgotten!!! Thank you so very much, for reviewing once again my work, __**Hikari **__**The**__** Emo Queen of OCness**__!!! And thanks to you too, __**DemonTsunaru**__!!! You are awesome! Both of you! And people, please review . I've had over a hundred hits after I posted the last chapter and only two reviews. . It makes me think my story is not even worth reading falls into depression_


	11. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine: A Double Surprise – Sasuke's Departure… And More**

She could feel a hand on her forehead, rushing some Chakura in her head. Why was that? Akai couldn't really comprehend anything that was around her. Her eyes were closed, and she was not really relying on her ears or nose right now. She was just lying… Lying and trying to forget all of that…

Trying to forget the images, that haunted her even now, Kami knows how long after she was released from the Genjutsu. The hellish pictures that stood like carved in her mind, not letting her rest in peace. Those images were torturing her and every time one of them appeared clearer in her mind her heart sunk.

It hurt. It hurt so much, seeing that… Those pictures… The blood… Their lifeless faces… She couldn't take it…

For a second the woman clenched her eyes tight and then she decided to open them. No harm could come from that. Her vision was blurry. The first thing that met her eyes was a head. A blond head with blue eyes. For a second she thought she was seeing those images again.

She jumped a little, but the surprise came when she realized she fell from somewhere… Was that a bed? If it was, then what was she doing in it? She was supposed to be on the water in the middle of Konoha, not in a bed…

"Akai-chan?" the voice startled her a little.

The woman closed her eyes again for a second and then she opened them, blinking a few times to clear the blurry images before her. She realized she was lying on the floor, next to a bed with clear white sheets. She was in one of those hospital rooms with curtains around each bed. Yes, she was in a hospital all right… But what was she doing here?

The woman saw three figures above her.

The closest one, the one she had seen earlier was none other than Naruto. That calmed her down a lot. She had thought she was seeing things. Next to him was her brother, who was looking calmly at her above his orange book. The third figure was one of a person she had never thought she would see again in her live. The young woman with brown eyes and long blond hair stood there looking at her as she stared with disbelief.

"Pull yourself together," the Sanin said and then she turned around and starting walking away, saying, "Come on, Shizune. Let's take a look on that Uchiha."

"Oi! Tsunade-obaachan! Matte (_Wait_)!" yelled Naruto, as he ran after the two women.

"Tsunade-sama…" said Akai as she gapped after the woman exited the room. "How… how come she's back?" she asked as she looked at her brother.

"You should ask Naruto, or Jiraiya-sama. They brought her back," Kakashi answered as he looked back in his book. "She'll be the Godaime Hokage."

"She agreed!?" the woman was startled by the news that her brother brought.

Akai remembered Tsunade pretty well. She had known her, when she was a kid. The best Medical Nin in Konoha. It hadn't been once when Rin had said how much she wished to become her student. The girl never managed though… Tsunade left Konoha, before the young Medic could find the courage to talk to her.

It was sad, how she turned her back to the village and abandoned everybody and everything. She should have known that when you choose the life of a ninja, you turn your back on many things, and you should learn to accept the deaths of your closest people…

Though that wasn't really something Akai could give her advice about. Not now, when she had the feeling that those images will haunt her until the day she dies… But no matter that, she would never leave Konoha and what she had left, just because of the sorrow she felt inside.

Akai closed her eyes for a second again, and then she pushed herself up to a sitting position. She was dressed in hospital clothes and her stuff was lying on a chair next to the bed. There was nobody else in the room she and Kakashi were. The woman tried to remember what she was doing here and it wasn't long before she recalled the Genjutsu and how she lost consciousness after that.

"Akai,' she looked up at her brother. "You shouldn't do that again." His voice was as calm as ever.

"Do what?" sure, she had done wrong things, but since when did Kakashi know about any of them?

"Charge towards an S-ranked criminal without a plan, or any chance of winning," the white haired man said. "You can get yourself killed like that. And, also, next time I tell you to stay away from a fight, you really should listen to me. We would have handled it on our own.'

"I know…" the woman looked away, as she got up and sat on the edge of her bed.

"And I heard from Asuma they had mentioned something about a missing Bijuu. Do you have any idea what they were talking about?" he asked, as he looked straight at her, putting his book down.

Akai kept a straight face, not letting anything escape her. She was going to tell him one day… But not today! No, not now! She turned towards him with fake surprise.

"I didn't hear anything like that. Are you sure he isn't hearing things?" the woman blinked.

"Kurenai confirmed… and said Itachi mentioned it right after you charged at him." He was looking with what seemed to be suspicion at her.

Akai knew she couldn't hide it forever. In a while everyone would find out and the longer it took, the worse things would get. And yet she still wasn't ready to tell anybody. Not even Kakashi.

"Well, I guess I was too angry to hear a word he said…"

**'Liar'** Rokubi said with a smirk.

"… But I have no idea about what he had been talking about. Isn't Kyuubi the only Bijuu, around? And he's quite popular, I guess."

It amazed even the woman how she could keep such a straight face and lie in such a manner in the same time. It was just that she had had a lot of experience in that and it helped her a lot…

"Well then, if you find out anything I'd be glad to hear it," Kakashi looked back in his book, appearing satisfied with her answer.

"Now, if you excuse me, I'd like to change and get out of here. I don't like hospitals," as soon as she had said that, her brother disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving her alone.

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Some time had passed after she had woken up. She didn't know how long. Days, maybe a week, or more? It didn't matter anyway. As soon as she had recovered, Akai had always been sent on S-rank missions in witch time didn't actually matter. It was all kill, or get killed. She had never gotten in so many life threatening battles in such a short while… Not that she was sure it had been short…

Anyway… This was one of the few times she actually woke up to find her face buried in the pillow, lying on the couch in the middle of her apartment… That is, Kakashi's apartment. Yeah, she had raised enough money to pay him back for what he got her, and to start living on her own, but she still didn't have enough for an apartment though. For now, that is.

She moved a little in the bed, covered in the worm blankets. It was really pleasant, even though she was still really tired. She seriously needed to get some rest from time to time.

"Yo."

Well, obviously, now wasn't the time.

"Go away," she muttered, her head still buried in her pillow.

"Hokage-sama wanted to see you."

"Tell her to let me rest for one freaking day…"

"I have the feeling she's going to send you on a mission with me. And she wanted to talk to you about something."

Akai brought her head up and eyed her brother. He was leaning on the wall, reading his book and didn't seem to have heard her last words. The woman sighed and then rolled over the edge of the couch, landing on her hands and feet. Then she pushed herself up, and yawned.

"I'm so tired," she said as she stretched and rubbed her eyes. "Can't Tsunade-sama find somebody else? Jeez! I can't rest for one day!"

Saying that she went to the bathroom, and right after the door slammed it was opened again, as Akai went out, got her clothes and a towel and got back in. In less then five minutes she came out again, refreshed, but not quite awake yet.

The woman went back in the room she slept in and quickly turned her 'bed' back into a couch and right after that she went towards the fridge. It wasn't a surprise that it was actually working and full – she cocked whenever she had the chance. The woman got something for a quick breakfast and then she turned towards her brother. Kakashi hadn't moved from his place and was still reading his book silently.

"Is waking me up all she wanted you to do?" the red haired woman asked a little annoyed. "I just can't get a goon sleep lately. Tell me again, why do we have to go on all of these S-ranked missions?"

"Konoha needs to get to its feet after Orochimaru's attack. Hokage-sama is accepting more S-ranked missions to show other countries that the Leaf hasn't lost its glory, even after the battle and the Sandaime's death," her brother said, as he didn't even look at her.

Akai sighed helplessly, and ate her breakfast in a couple of minutes. It didn't take her long to pick up all of her ninja equipment, and soon she was telling Kakashi "Goodbye", running out of the door.

She welcomes the cool morning air, when she got out of the apartment building. The woman quickly jumped on a roof and started running to a certain location. It wasn't the Hokage tower, though.

And it didn't really take her all that long to get there. In a minute or two she was running between the trees and stopped in front of the Memorial stone. She was here almost every day… or at least every time she came back to Konoha, after she regained consciousness.

She didn't really know why she came here. Every time she had a break before a mission she went out and eventually, some time later, she realized she was staring at the stone and the three names written on it.

She wasn't sure weather it was because of what she had seen in the Genjutsu, or if it was something else that brought her here. It was really hard for the woman to understand it herself… And yet whenever she realized she was next to the stone again, she just spent some quiet minutes, looking at it, before leaving.

And that's exactly what she did now.

------------------------------------

A cloud of smoke appeared in the middle of the office of the Hokage and when it cleared, Akai stood there. She bowed a little and said:

"You wanted to see me, Hokage-sama?"

"I called for you two hours ago," said the blond woman, looking a little annoyed. "Don't get your brother's habits!"

"Gomen, Hokage-sama. I had to stop for some time on the way here," Akai put her hand behind her head and smiled nervously.

Not, that that was really a lie. She had stopped on her way… It was just that this place was not her destination… And when did two hours pass? Well, not that it mattered. What was done was done. There's no taking it back.

"Anyway, I've got a mission for you and a different assignment as well," Tsunade said, as she shuffled a few pieces of paper on her desk. "The mission is an S-ranked, and I want you to go with Kakashi. You're leaving this afternoon at two o'clock. Don't be late!" the woman said as she handed a piece of paper to the Jinchuriki.

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" Akai said, as she took the paper. "And what about the 'different assignment'?" she asked, wondering what it could be.

"I want you to take the job as a Jounin sensei," the woman said, as she looked up from the documents on her desk.

"A Jounin sensei? You mean you want me to take care of a Gennin team?" she gaped in disbelief.

"Not an entire team," said Tsunade, as she didn't take her eyes away from the one, standing before her. "At least not for now. There is a boy, Shimizu Ken, who is a first year Gennin. His sensei didn't let the entire team pass, but he saw something in the boy and let him become a Gennin on his own. However, the Jounin was one of the few casualties from the time of Orochimaru's attack. The boy's been patient until now, but it would be good if he is sent under another teacher."

While the Hokage was saying all of this, Akai was just standing in front of her, staring at her wide eyed. The young woman had no idea what to answer. She wasn't sure weather she's ready to take on such a responsibility on her own…

"I understand if you can't give me the answer immediately," said Tsunade. "You have time until the end of your mission. I'll expect your answer as soon as you're back."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," said Akai.

"You're dismissed," Konoha's leader said as she looked down, towards her documents.

With another quick bow Akai disappeared from the room, leaving behind a cloud of smoke.

As soon as the woman stepped outside she looked towards the Hokage monument that stood above the village. It was still a beautiful morning and the sun was letting its rays rest on top of the stone faces, lighting them gently. It was a beautiful sight that could make any tourist stay and watch in awe.

But there was something else in the woman's eyes. Uncertainty and hesitation. Two things that weren't really common for her.

_'An entire life could rest on this one decision… What if I can't teach him right…? What if I'm not strong enough to protect him when we go on a hard mission…? __What if…__ I fail…?'_ Her eyes drifted towards the face of the Yondaime. _'It is strange… I remember__ you__ teaching Nii-san on his own, when he was young… I wonder weather it was hard for you to decide, sensei…'_

She sighed and decided to leave the wondering for later. She was supposed to take a look at the paper Tsunade had given her about the mission. She raised her hand and realized she wasn't holding one, but two pieces of paper. Taking a quick glance, she red the first lines. The first paper read "Details for Mission" and the second "Information on: Shimizu Ken"

Eyeing the second paper with curiosity, Akai decided to find a peaceful place to read it. It wasn't long, before she found herself on top of the Hokage monument, sitting on the Yondaime's head. She looked at the sun, and realizing it was still quite early for the mission, she looked back at the paper.

_"Shimizu Ken, age 12, is __known as __the Genius of the Shimizu clan…"_

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It was a few hours later, when Akai found herself at the south gate, waiting for her brother, and another hour before Kakashi actually came. As usual he muttered some kind of excuse and they went on the mission.

Their goal was clear – they had to attack and kill an Iwagakure Chuunin team, sent on an investigation mission. The place – the border with Kusa no Kuni (_The Land of Grass_), the time – probably around a day and a half after they left Konoha. There was a bloody battle, but obviously the enemy were not really experienced Chuunin and it ended quite quickly.

The siblings were going back, when the night caught up to them, and they decided to camp for the night. Sleeping under the dark sky without even a camp fire wasn't really something Akai liked to do, but in this situation, they could not afford to be spotted.

The sun was just beginning to hide behind the nearby mountains as the duo stopped and made themselves comfortable between the branches of a big three, Akai, looking north-west, and Kakashi – south-east.

"Nii-san…" the woman began, not quite sure what to say. "Was it… a hard decision for you to take on a team?"

"Not really," answered Kakashi. "It was harder for a team to get to me," he carved his eye, not turning towards the woman.

"So, you just said 'I'm going to take the first team that passes', and that was it?" the woman tried to look at him from the corner of her eyes, but he was behind the trunk of the three, so she just turned towards the setting sun again.

"Something like that," said Kakashi, as he took out his book and looked in it again. "Why do you bother asking?"

"It's just…" Akai hesitated for a bit, but before she could finish Kakashi spoke the words she was about to say.

"Tsunade-sama asked you to take on a team, didn't she?" A quiet nod was all he got in answer, but the silence itself showed him he was right. "That's a decision only you can make, but let me tell you something. If you take on a team, one way or another that will affect every single one of them. Weather it's for good or bad, only time will show."

This time Akai turned around and saw that her brother wasn't looking in his book, but in the darkening sky instead. Looking up she saw how one after another the stars started to appear on the black background and a big moon hung in the middle.

Akai smiled lightly. She realized she can never be sure which is more beautiful – the sunrise that greets the day, or the sunset that gives way to the stars…

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"What? Only Rookies were sent after Sasuke?" Kakashi was staring at the Hokage, right in front of her desk, as Akai was standing next to him, looking shocked.

"There was no other choice, considering the condition of the village," the older woman replied. "And besides, they weren't all Rookies. Rock Lee was sent after him, as well."

Kakashi sighed and his head dropped.

"I've already dispatched the necessary minimal amount of help." Hearing that, the grey haired Jounin turned and started walking away. "Hey, Hey! Your mission has already been decided!" said the Hokage, bringing up a piece of paper with the letter "S" on the top.

"I'll return once I take care of a few things. No need to worry," the Hatake replied casually, as he exited the room.

"Geez," Tsunade muttered and then turned towards Akai. "I want your…" but she was no longer there. Only a scroll that obviously contained the mission report was standing on the desk in front of her. "She didn't even answer," the Hokage was getting annoyed, as she picked up the scroll and opened it. The first words in it proved her conclusion wrong.

_"I, Hatake Akai__ accept the duty of becoming the Jounin sensei of Shimizu Ken…"_

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Appearing out of the building where Kakashi was walking calmly, Akai saw Sakura that was talking to him.

"Naruto and the others still aren't back," she looked really worried.

The woman walked next to them and studied Sakura carefully. It was obvious she had gone trough a lot during the last few days and the look in her eyes showed her worry.

"Yeah. I've heard most of the story," answered Kakashi in his usual voice.

"I believe in Naruto." The pink haired Kunoichi said certainly. "I believe in him, but if something were to happen to them…"

"Sakura, don't worry about anything," said the older Hatake, as he put his hand on her shoulder. "Leave the rest to us," he added as he started walking away.

From behind her Akai caught her hand and forced a smile on her face.

"We'll do all we can to get them back, Sakura!" she said towards the girl and then ran after her brother. A moment of hesitation later, the girl followed them.

------------------------------------

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu," Kakashi said, after making a few handseals.

Slamming his hands on the ground, the Jounin was surrounded with smoke and when it cleared, his Ninja Hounds were standing in front of him.

"First go off in all directions and track Naruto's and Sasuke's scents," he said towards the dogs.

"Naruto and Sasuke?" Pakkun looked surprised. "What happened to them?

"I'll explain later. This is argent." Kakashi didn't bother explaining more. "Once you've got the scent call for me and then keep going. Yosh (_All Right_). Scatter!"

In a wave of his hand the dogs disappeared, tracking the boys. It wasn't long before a dog's bark could be heard and both Jounin jumped towards it, as Sakura chased a little and stopped just out of the gates.

This was not a day that Akai would forget soon. After their little talk last night, she and Kakashi had spent the night there, sleeping on turns and they had arrived in Konoha around noon the other day.

And of course they had to be greeted by the news of the Hokage.

_"Sasuke left the village, looking for Orochimaru."_

The woman's words still echoed in Akai's head. It was the worst thing she could possibly imagine. And Naruto, together with almost all of the Rookies and Lee going after Sasuke just made things even worst.

The woman knew that it wouldn't take them all that long to catch up to the Gennin, and yet again… Tsunade had said that they had left Konoha two days ago, making it about a day after she and her brother went on the mission. This was nothing but bad news…

------------------------------------

Heavy drops started falling from the sky. How long had they been running? Akai didn't know. How far had they gone from Konoha? She didn't know that as well. How long was it until they reached Naruto and Sasuke? That she knew.

She could hear them; almost see the two boys. She could even track the scent by herself, as Rokubi's Chakura was forced into her ears, eyes and nose. She knew that they were close and even if Pakkun loses the trail, she would be able to lead from here on.

"Rain?" Kakashi turned towards the dog. "Have their scents disappeared?"

"It's ok, they're close."

Another jump… The touch of cold rock, instead of the three branches and they landed. The place was really not all that welcoming. Signs of a battle were all around the place, but there was only one body there… and nothing else…

"So we were too late…" Kakashi's words were quiet… like he didn't want to say it himself.

"Naruto…" Pakkun went around the boy. "Why did it end up like this?" Sniffing the fallen forehead protector next to the boy, he added "It's Sasuke's."

Not saying a word Kakashi went towards the boy and knelt next to him. For a second or two he was just looking at his student, and then he closed his eye. Everything was quiet, safe for the sound of the rain. The Copy Nin then put the forehead protector on top of the boy and carefully picked Naruto up.

To the side Akai was just standing. She didn't say a word, or move a mussel. Nothing was certain enough for her to comprehend. The voices of her brother and Pakkun sounded on the background, as well as the rain… until it stopped. But for the girl nothing was clear enough to be understood.

It was strange. The thought that Sasuke had killed Naruto… It was a feeling Akai couldn't quite understand. Disbelief, confusion… guilt…

If they had been a little faster they might have come on time… They might have stopped this madness and taken both of the boys, alive and well, back to Konoha… Time was so important sometimes… And it was never there when you need it…

She blinked a few times, trying to concentrate on the situation. All of this seemed to be happening around her and she felt so helpless… She looked around and realized that Kakashi sand Pakkun were standing at the edge of the rock, looking towards the river and she could see Naruto's eyes opening a little. So he was alive… And yet…

Akai looked at the figure of her young friend. How could somebody do this… to one of the few people that actually cared for him…? How could somebody just leave his life, his friends, his love ones behind, just so he could seek power…? It was beyond her power to understand that…

But she knew one thing – if it hadn't been for Orochimaru, something like this would have never happened. If it hadn't been for him, Sasuke would have never left the village. None of this would have happened…

She could feel the anger flow trough her. Weather it was concentrated towards Sasuke or Orochimaru, she couldn't tell, but it was just the same, anyway. Clenching her fists, Akai didn't really realize when she turned to the side and saw something. A small flash of black, clear enough for her to understand it was him.

"Sasuke…" she said angrily and didn't really see how her brother and Pakkun looked at her.

It didn't matter. The woman was already far away from them, running towards the lonely figure of the Konoha Gennin. She didn't really care so much for the boy. Sasuke wasn't her friend, or something, but seeing how his disappearing caused both Naruto and Sakura to suffer like that was a bit too much for her.

Rushing some more Chakura in her feet she ran even faster, forgetting about the three behind her, and before she knew it she was close to the boy.

"Sasuke!"

The boy stopped in his track but didn't bother as much as to turn around.

"What… the Hell do you thing you're doing…" she hissed between her teeth. "How can you leave everything behind… you home, your friends… just because you want power…?" Akai didn't even care enough to hide her emotions as every word was said with hate and anger. "People say you're a Genius, don't they? Well, to tell you the truth, for me you're the biggest moron in this entire world… A person who would leave everything behind for something like that… Doesn't deserve any of this…" here the woman chuckled a little. "But you're lucky like that, you know? You have Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi… all people who care for you…"

"I have nothing to do with them any more," the boy's voice was cold and empty.

"Don't do it," she said now a bit calmer. "Do you even realize how much you're throwing away? Just… stay in Konoha and you can become times stronger than before! Kakashi can teach you how to use the Sharingan; you can copy numberless different techniques… Damn it, if you stay I'll even teach you how to use that Cursed Seal! Just don't go! Don't throw your life away!"

"I no longer have a life," came the empty response. Sasuke turned a little and looked at her with his black eyes. It was discouraging, just seeing how they were as empty as his voice…

But the woman couldn't take any more of this arrogant kid. There was one certain thing – he couldn't fight in that condition and if he wouldn't come back willingly, she was ready to force him to do it.

She didn't care weather she'll have to hurt him, but if he was brought back maybe… just maybe… things would somehow get back to normal… And the Jinchuriki was willing to do anything to help get things better!

Charging at the boy she threw a punch at his head. It wasn't a really hard punch – just as much as to help her see exactly what condition the boy was in. But centimeters before it connected it stopped. It felt like she hit a stone wall and between her and the boy appeared a hardly visible Chakura barrier.

"W-what the…" she stared at the wall for a second and then her eyes detected something else.

She could see a dark figure, emerging from the shadows of the forest behind Sasuke. A really familiar pair of round glasses reflected the light as she watched in disbelief how Kabuto went close to the Gennin.

"Welcomed to Oto, Sasuke-kun. Orochimaru-sama is expecting you," he said with a smirk.

Not wanting to believe what she was seeing, Akai hit the barrier again, trying her best to break it, but in vain. She stared wide eyed as the two figures started to disappear in the darkness and hit the barrier again.

"Kabuto!" she yelled, "Don't do this! Don't let Oro-teme get away with this! Stop it!"

But neither of them stopped moving. The Oto Nin turned a little towards her and smirked.

"I'm sorry, Akai-chan. All I can do is… wish you better luck next time."

As they continued walking forward soon they were out of her sight. The darkness swallowed them, not letting the woman track them. Another punch met with the barrier.

"Damn it!" with those words another punch landed. "Damn it! Damn it!" Getting really angry the woman concentrated all of her strength in the next punch "DAMN IT!!!"

But to her surprise in a second the barrier broke to pieces in front of her eyes. Like a broken mirror it was scattered and turned to nothing before it could reach the ground. But she didn't allow herself to just stay like that. She rushed towards the way Kabuto and Sasuke had gone and looked around, but not a sight and not a sound was left.

"Kabuto!" her yell was greeted by the sounds of the forest around. Like everything was telling her to face the truth. "SASUKE!"

There was nobody left to hear her… She had failed…

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_**Chapter**__** Ten: A Group Mission – Akai, Ken and… **__**Naruto?**_

_****__"Tsunade-obaachan!"__ Naruto sounded like a kid, whining to its mother. "Won't you finally let me go after Sasuke? It's been long enough and I'm stronger now!"__Seeing the woman's glair he looked at her with childish anger and then said, "At least give me some good mission, so I can become stronger while Ero-sennin comes back!"_

_**Author's notes:**_

OMG! I actually finished this early o.O Can you believe it? It's Friday, not Saturday Yosh!

Would you look at that! I have 4 reviews for this chapter! It's a record! jumps from happiness 4 reviews for one chapter!!! Thank you all for reviewing! You make my day! And please don't stop there .

Thank you, _**DemonTsunaru**_, for reviewing once again! You're awesome! I can only wish you a pleasant holiday, _**Hikari-chan**_, and thanks again for the review Also, thanks for the awesome review from _**mariahmerry**_-chan! It's really sweet and thanks to you too, _**DragonWarrior135**_! I'm really happy you like the story!

Ok, I hope this turned out fine. I actually wrote almost half of it between 0 and 2 o'clock last night and I hope it's not too bad -.- I had to re-write the end cause it was awful. When I read it the next day, I was like "OMG! Did I write this piece of crap!? O.O" And it took me about an hour to re-write it and I believe it's a bit better now, but still… I don't really like how that part turned out -.-

Well, that's all from me, folks See you next Saturday. And until then, don't forget to review, pleeeeeeeeeeeease makes puppy-dog-eyes


	12. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten: A Group Mission – Akai, Ken and… Naruto?**

It was a peaceful and calm morning in the Hokage tower. The sun was peaking trough the giant windows, lighting the room. The sounds of birds chipping and the noises from the village bellow could be heard as a background to everything else. Ninjas of all ranks were coming to get their missions, walking out right afterwards.

Yes, it was a peaceful morning for the Hokage and her assistant…

"TSUNADE-OBAACHAN!" the voice of Konoha's number one most unpredictable and hyperactive ninja made the Hokage clench her teeth, as he hit the door and ran into the room.

Or maybe not so peaceful…

The woman glared at him. It was the same annoying thing over and over again! Every single day that Naruto was in Konoha, he wouldn't leave her alone.

"What do you want now" she asked between clenched teeth, even though she knew the answer perfectly well.

But the 'annoying brat' couldn't say anything, because the boy was interrupted by the door opening behind him, this time carefully. With a bright smile and hair, which looked like she hadn't done anything with it, after she woke up, Akai entered the room.

She waved at Naruto and bowed to the Hokage.

"Good morning, Tsunade-sama," she said calmly, "I'm here to ask weather you can give my student a mission for today."

Right after she had said that, the door opened again and a boy, about the age of Naruto came in. He had shoulder length dark blue hair, almost black, and eyes that were in a lighter hue of the same color. He wore dark shorts and the same t-shirt with no sleeves. Both of his hands and feet were covered in bandages and he had leather gloves, that didn't cover his fingers. The boy was panting and leaned back on the wall, after a quick bow towards the Hokage.

"You know, sensei…" he said, turning towards the younger woman. "It really isn't fair racing with you."

Akai chuckled and gave him a smile.

"That may be true… But it only means you have to approve your speed," the woman winked at him with a smile.

-----------------------------------

_It was the day after Sasuke's departure. Akai was still in a bad mood, as she appeared in the Hokage'__s office, emerging from a cloud of thick smoke, and bowed down in front of Konoha's lea__d__er. __She was aware that the woman before her knew exactly why she was here, so she didn't say a word. _

_It was just then, when some voices came from the other side of the door._

_"Oh, come on, __**Ken-chan**__, I want to meet with your __new __sensei!" said a female voice with amusement, stressing the boy's name._

_"Stop calling me that, Kanji!" the other voice sounded a little disturbed. "Only Kaa-san calls me that! And she's just about enough."_

_"Ok, ok," said the first voice again,__ after a chuckle,__ "I'm just kidding. But it's great to know that you'll start your training __a__gain! I'm really happy to hear it!__ And I wonder what kind of a person your new sensei will be…__"_

_"Yeah, so __do__ I. __But __I'm going to start going on mission and raise money for us again. Don't worry," this time the boy sounded more serious. __"And Kaa-san won't have to go to work again."_

_"I'm not worried, Onii-san. Just take care of yourself! I don't want you all messed up when you come back from your training __and missions __again. Be careful!" she sounded concerned and was obviously very serious about what she was saying._

_"Sure I will.__ There's nothing to worry about. I'm going to be just fine,__" he reassured her._

_"Ok, then. I'm going to go and tell Chiko about all of this! Good luck!" the last words were followed by hurrying __steps__ that __were__ going away._

_"__Uh… Yeah, __sure… Go tell Chiko-chan. Bye!" there was a strange lowering in his voice, but the last word was almost shouted._

_After a moment the door opened and Akai looked with curiosity at the boy that entered the room. The dark blue locks falling over his face didn't hide the faint blush that was there. His blue eyes quickly scanned the room as he then bowed before the blond woman. _

_"Good morning, Hokage-sama," he said in a formal tone. "I am here to meet my new sensei, as you said yesterday evening."_

_The red haired woman blinked surprised at the boy and then a big grin appeared on her face. She wasn't sure exactly what, but something in that dialogue she had heard had made her feel happy inside. And besides, her student looked like a pretty nice boy. Though she knew well enough as to never judge the book by its covers…_

Shimizu (_Cl__ear Water_) Ken (_Sword_). He was known as one of the little people who actually had a personal teacher. The people of Konoha saw him, as a Genius. His close people saw him as a good friend. His family saw him as a person they couldn't live without.

At young age the boy had lost his father, who had died during a mission for Konoha. His mother, left alone to take care of both him and his one year younger sister, was forced to work in multiple places to raise enough money.

Growing up, mostly on his own and seeing how hard life was for his beloved mother; Ken decided to do everything in his power to help her. He wanted to find a well-paid job, as soon as possible, so the woman could drop out from the two places she worked in.

He didn't have many possibilities, though. Not many people his age could find a job in those days, especially one to raise a lot of money… The first and only thing he could think of was, to become a ninja. That had been a dream of his, ever since he could remember, and realizing how much it would help his family, he became even more motivated, and at an early age, he joined the Academy.

He quickly climbed to the top of the class, being always second, right after the Uchiha survivor, and thrown back in his shadow. Nobody really got him much attention – the teachers were too busy dealing with Naruto's pranks, and the girls were all around Sasuke, not even seeing him.

Ignoring that, Ken worked to the best of his ability to become the best he could be and graduate ass soon as possible. It wasn't an easy battle and even though everybody called him a Genius, a person who gets everything handed to him, that wasn't really true. He had to work hard and push himself to the limit, as he, more often than not, spent his nights unconscious in the training grounds, exhausted after the intense training he had gotten pass.

But all of that hard training proved not to be in vain and he finally graduated. The test that his sensei had given him and the other two from his team was not all that hard, if you were a Chuunin at the least, that is. It was a way to check their possibilities of a real fight. A mere Genjutsu, but a really confusing one. None of them understood when they were put in it.

It all started as in their minds Konoha was attacked. A battle came up from all of this, as his teammates were defeated but he continued to fight. It wasn't long after that, when he started to realize how this could not be true, and before he knew it, he found himself with his own kunai stabbed in his leg in an effort to get out of the illusion.

And it worked. Being the only one to see trough the illusion, while fighting for his life, Ken proved himself in the eyes of the Jounin and he passed him, sending the other two back in the Academy.

For some time now, the boy had studied under the said Jounin, going on missions and training to increase his power, and even though he really wanted to enter the Chuunin Exam, he was not allowed, for he did not have a team to go with. And maybe it was for the better.

In the day of the third exam, Ken had fought bravely in the front lines of the people that were ordered to defeat the Shinobi that entered Konoha, managing to keep himself safe enough to not loose his life… unlike his sensei.

The next few weeks had been quite hard for the boy and his family, because he was not allowed to go on missions on his own. He had joined a few group C-rank missions when the teams weren't full, and yet his mother had to try to find a job for a while, so they can live normally.

Though in the last week or two things had normalized, for he had gotten a new sensei – one that he really liked, being quite a bit younger than the other Jounin and a lot more fun to be around. Akai had already thought him a few very important things for the time they had been together and then they had started to go on more missions…

The said woman beamed a smile towards Naruto. The last few days had been quite fun. Every day, when the Gennin wasn't on mission she would drag Ken to Ichiraku and treat the two boys there. She had gotten as close to Naruto, as she was to Ken and they spent their time, having fun, as the boys spared sometimes when they didn't have what to do.

After giving her one of his foxy grins, the bond turned towards the Hokage again.

"Tsunade-obaachan!" Naruto sounded like a kid, whining to its mother. "Won't you finally let me go after Sasuke? It's been long enough and I'm stronger now!"Seeing the woman's glair he looked at her with childish anger and then said, "At least give me some good mission, so I can become stronger while Ero-sennin comes back!"

The red haired woman laughed under her breath, as Ken chuckled at the other boy's attitude. He had never been able to get used to it. Not until now, that is. Though he had really been surprised by his mother's reaction when he had told her who his new sparing partner was. She almost forbid him to see the blond and told him to stay away from him. It was something Ken could not understand.

"Fine!" Tsunade almost yelled, getting thoroughly annoyed with the boy. "You'll go on a very important B ranked mission!"

"But Tsunade-sama…" Shizune exclaimed, hearing the woman's words.

"But…" the Hokage continued. "You and Ken will go on this mission as backup to Akai," without even letting him say anything, she took out a piece of paper and started to read and explain their goal. "Your mission will be to guard a certain person – Wakana Takiri. She is the last survivor of the Wakana clan and has the clan's most treasured possession – a necklace with the clan's symbol. There are people after that necklace, because it is said to have some strange power and it is the reason that the other people of the clan were killed. Hatake Akai, Shimizu Ken, Uzumaki Naruto, your mission is to guard Wakana Takiri during her four day stay in Amegakure no Sato (_The Hidden Village in the Rain_) and on her way back to Kusa no Kuni. Do you understand?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" Akai and Ken said in union.

"Sugoi (_Awesome_)! A mission with you! I'm going to get my stuff ready!" Naruto ran out of the room, as the door slammed behind him.

Akai chuckled and went to the Hokage, to get the necessary documents and a little later, the three were at Konoha's main gate. The journey to Kusa no Kuni wasn't neither hard, nor that long, but the problem came up at the second they saw the one they were supposed to guard.

She was a young woman, around the twenties with long light green, curly hair and dark yellow eyes.

Naruto was just about to yell and say "Hi", when a kunai flew right towards him, almost cutting his neck, and a few shuriken were sent towards Ken and Akai. The other boy dodged and the red haired woman caught the metal star with her two fingers centimeters from her face.

"Good day," she greeted. "We're Ninjas from Konoha, sent on a mission to guard you, Wakana-san," the Kunoichi sounded calm and untroubled, but nobody could say the same for Naruto…

"Oi! You good for nothing! How dare you throw weapons at us, when we're here to guard your sorry ass!" he yelled as he shook his fist at her direction.

"How am I supposed to know that you're Konoha Nins? You could have been anybody," she said in an annoyed voice as the three got closer to her. "Besides, who the Hell are you? A Gennin or what? I paid for a B-rank mission, one that was supposed to be carried out by Chuunin at the least!"

"Nani!?" Naruto was getting angry. "You think that I can't carry out this stupid mission on my own? I'm going to be the next Hokage and this is nothing for me!"

"Hokage, eh?" she said teasingly with a smirk. "Is that the weakest ninja in your village? 'Cause I can't see you becoming anything else."

"Why you…" the blond was looking dangerous, as he was nearing the woman slowly.

"Oi! Cut it out! We're supposed to guard her, not get in a fight with her!" Ken held him back from the woman, catching him with his arms underneath his shoulders, stopping the boy's efforts to break free.

"Don't mind them. They might look like kids, but they're capable Shinobi and I can guarantee your safety," Akai smiled and when the woman just 'hn'ed Naruto finally calmed down and Ken let go of him. "Well then, shall we get going?"

The four of them started heading into Ame no Kuni (_Land of Rain_) and the journey was surprisingly calm. No attacks, no nothing. When they finally arrived in Amegakure, Takiri settled down into a hotel, and after Akai calmly threw away about twenty explosive tags from her room, she settled her luggage and went to the meeting she was supposed to have.

During the entire way Naruto and the woman wouldn't stop arguing over everything they could think of and it seemed impossible to separate them, even though both Akai and Ken were trying their best.

But even for the Jounin, it was a lost fight.

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The night came faster than anyone expected and the Konoha trio came back with Takiri to her room. Yet another quarrel between the blond and the Wakana had begun and they were yelling at the top of their lungs at one another. In the end the red haired Kunoichi was forced to surprise Naruto and cover his mouth with her hands, if she wanted to ever be able to hear again.

"Oh man, Naruto, you're really noisy," Ken whined as both of them sat in front of the door after their customer had gone to bed.

"It's not my fault she's so…"

"Naruto, she's paying us to be on this mission," Akai interrupted, as she exited the room. "Besides, as a ninja, you really should learn some patience!'

"Yeah, yeah! Don't you start with that crap to! I don't need patience to become the best Hokage ever! Believe it!" the boy beamed one of his foxy grins as he looked her way.

Akai couldn't help but smile at him. He was just too much, and his face on its own brought back so many memories. She had been fighting those terrifying images from the Genjutsu, but in the end she gave up and tried to live with them. When she wasn't running from them every passing second it wasn't all that hard actually.

And between all of that, many people were surprised to see her around Naruto. Maybe it was because of the reason he had been alone for so long, or because of the link between the two Jinchurikis… The woman didn't really know, but she was aware of the fact, that they were becoming really close.

'_He's__ now__… almost as close to me as Minato-sensei was…_'

There was something really strange in those thoughts. Yes, she knew that the Yondaime is Naruto's father, but she could have never imagined that somebody out of her family could actually get so close to her again. For her to treasure him so much meant a lot, maybe more than the boy knew.

And maybe it had something to do with his father…

"Sure, Naruto. I wouldn't be surprised if you do," the woman said as she sat between him and Ken.

Her words were welcomed by strange looks from both boys. It was like Naruto was actually expecting her to disagree and tell him he wouldn't be able to become something so great. Ken was looking at her with the same confusion in his eyes.

She just smiled at them and curved her eyes, without saying anything else.

'_Like father, like son, they say_,' she thought. '_Who would have expected Minato-sensei to become Hokage_?'

She chuckled a but at the thought but in a second a slight noise from inside the room came. Immediately she was up and about to enter, when she was forced to dodge back a kunai that flew from the opposite direction and stabbed in the door.

With a quick hand Akai took out the kunai and threw it back at the place it had come from. A dark figure, that dodged the thrown blade, was standing in one of the windows. A ninja that was covered from his head to toe with black fabric and nothing could be seen from his body, except the eyes that were hidden in the shadow of the darkness.

In a second both boys were on their feet with kunai in hands, ready to attack at any sigh given to them by the woman. Or at least that's what Akai thought, before she saw Naruto charging on his own towards the enemy.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Ten or more Narutos started running towards the ninja, attacking him with all they had. However the person seemed to be really good at Taijutsu, or at least, better than the clones and in no time they were turned to smoke.

The real boy was kicked hard and hit the wall behind. At that moment Akai gave the signal, by hardly moving her hand.

In a second both she and Ken ran towards the enemy. Ken was the closer and tried to hit him with a hard kick, but it was dodged and at that moment Akai sliced the air on the right of the ninja, who had just moved out of the way.

Ken, who was now with his back turned towards the ninja. Bent in two and put his hands on the ground, resting his body's weight on them, as he got up on his arms and charged another flying kick, towards the enemy. His opponent sidestepped his attack and grabbed his leg, spinning him around and threw him towards his sensei.

Akai caught the flying boy and was pushed a few feet back, but when she looked back towards the enemy, there was nothing left of it. It was like he had disappeared in mid air.

Putting Ken back to his feet, Akai rushed back, as the boy went to see if Naruto was ok. The red haired woman opened the door to the hotel room and was relieved to see that Takiri was sitting in her bed, glaring at her.

"What's all that noise about?" she asked, sounding irritated.

"Nothing, nothing at al. Just an enemy attack, but everything's in control," the woman took a quick look at the room and then exited.

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"So now we have an unknown attacker, probably a Shinobi from the Rain, and…" Ken was talking to his sensei, before he was interrupted.

"Not a Shinobi. A Kunoichi. I'm sure it was a woman," Akai corrected the boy calmly, as she took a bite of her breakfast.

"Fine. So then we have two mysterious women on our hands," Ken didn't sound happy at all, as he took a quick drink from the cup in his hands.

"One of witch is pretty loud," the woman laughed as she heard another yell from the woman, coming from the place she was arguing with Naruto… again.

"Ok. Anything else than that?" the dark haired boy looked serious at his sensei, making the woman mirror the look back at him.

"There was something strange in her room last night. When I took a look inside everything was in place, but what caught my attention was that the window was opened wide."

"What? That doesn't make any sense!" Ken exclaimed, hearing the woman's words. "She's trained a few techniques in martial arts, knows how to work with weapons, because of this necklace, and now you tell me that she's irresponsible enough to leave her window open?"

"I don't know," she said honestly. "I'm really confused by this myself. And even more, if the ninja was after her, then… why didn't she just use her window, instead of picking the door?"

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_**Chapter Eleven: The **__**T**__**ruth – Wakana Takiri**_

_She couldn't understand exactly how this had happened. Had she let her guard down? __Probably.__ But now both Naruto and Ken were in a terrible situation, because of her mistake. She had to help them somehow… but how…_

Author's notes

Ok. It's… lemme se… 4 o'clock in the morning on Saturday. I can hardly keep my eyes open. This chapter had taken too much from me. And, sorry for ending it there You're gonna hate me now, ne? "

Only two reviews T.T I got so happy last week, but I guess miracles happen once… -.- Anyway, thanks, _**DemonTsunaru**_, and I'm sorry to say that I'm not a big Sasuke fan and he's not going to have a lot of play in this FF. Also, thanks to_** Hikari-chan**_. I hope you're having a nice vacation

And, before you start asking yourself '_Where the Hell did this Minato came from_?", I have to tell to those of you, who hadn't read the Manga, that this is the official name of the Yondaime Hokage. No Kazama Arashi, no Uzumaki Arashi, no nothing. And in the last chapter, they finally made it official that Naruto is his son I've always been a believer in that! Dattebayo!

Hm… well…. Uh… I don't know what to say anymore. Just, Night Night and _**please review**_

Ah, sorryyy! I should have put this chapter up before I went to bed, but I literally fell asleep in front of the monitor . I couldn't last any more, so I left it for later. Sorry!


	13. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven: The Truth – Wakana Takiri**

"Akai-chan, can't we just go back to Konoha now? It's been three days already! I can't stand her! She's worse than Sasuke-teme!"

Akai, Naruto and Ken were standing in front of a big building. Takiri had gone inside about four hours ago and now the sun was setting, lighting in a beautiful way the golden facing of the building. It was the home of the richest person in Ame, so it was supposed to be very safe and the three ninjas weren't allowed to go inside.

It was the third day they had spent in this village. There hadn't been another attack, but traps with explosive tags and kunai could be found in very surprising places – even a grocery shop Takiri had entered once.

It had really been a pain for Akai and Ken to find all of the traps and prevent her from stepping right into them. There had been this one time, that the woman had been walking trough the corridor, to her room and was just about to step on some hidden wire, when the boy had stopped her, but later when they had checked the corridor, they found out that there had been a single trap – the one that had almost gotten her killed.

Things had started to get even more confusing now, when she had been gone for so long. Takiri used to go in the building for her meetings every day, but never for so long – it was usually not more than an hour. Of course she had warned them that she was going to take some time, but ever since she had gotten in, Akai had had the annoying feeling that someone was watching them.

"We can't, Naruto," the woman said, trying to sound casual. "Besides, there's only this night left, and tomorrow we're going back to Kusa no Kuni and the mission ends."

The woman looked around again. That feeling of being watched was getting on her nerves, but she couldn't say where the person that was watching them was. Ken moved uncomfortably next to her, showing her he felt it too.

"And I thought this mission would never end," he said, sounding bored and then turned towards Naruto. "Keep in mind not to let your guard down. That ninja that attacked us has to show up tonight."

"Or during our way back," the woman looked a little concerned. "We should've caught her back then, but she retreated too fast."

"Yeah, yeah, anyway, babysitting her is just…" Naruto's voice was cut by the sound of the door opening behind them.

"Babysitting me? You have some nerve, brat!" Takiri went out of the building, glaring towards the blond. "It's more like I'm babysitting you, wannabe," she said teasingly.

"What did you say!?" the boy yelled at her, completely annoyed.

"Here we go again…" Akai chuckled lightly, feeling relieved when she realized that the feeling of being watched was gone. "I say we get going back to the hotel, before it gets dark..."

------------------------------------

It was finally morning and the four of them were getting ready to start their way back. Takiri yawned and dragged her back after herself, as she started walking after Akai. As soon as they exited Ame, the two Gennin moved to her sides – Naruto on the left and Ken on the right. The blond was unusually quiet. Akai had warned him to keep his mouth shut, for they could be attacked at any moment and after half an hour of persuasion, he had agreed. It took every ounce of willpower he had not to answer to her teasing, but when they went out of the village Takiri had gotten bored with it and kept quiet.

------------------------------------

Time was passing slowly as the four of them were walking along trough the field. They were nearing some ruins they had seen on their way here and were about to enter them soon. The feeling of being watched would not go away, even though none of them could feel anything. And then it happened.

There was less than a second for any of them to act. Ken jumped, and pushed Naruto out of the way; Akai jumped back and threw a kunai. Her weapon hit the one that had been flying towards Takiri. The other three shuriken hit the ground in stead of the ninjas, one of them too close to Ken's foot for comfort.

The Gennin had just gotten up, when another metal star flew towards the Wakana and in the second Akai's kunai hit it, the masked face of the Kunoichi from a few days ago could be seen behind the weapons, as she caught Takiri and got her up on her shoulder and started running away.

"What the!?" Naruto exclaimed and then yelled towards the running woman "Get back here you coward!!!"

"After her!" the Jounin's voice was serious and steady and it made the boys obey at the second she spoke the words.

The three of them ran after the women as hundreds of questions ran trough their heads.

_'Why did she take her? If she was here only for the necklace, then why?'_ Ken's thought reached Akai's mind, as she narrowed her eyes.

_'I've got a better question. Why is she being kidnapped by a Mizu Bunshin?'_

**'Think, bakamono!'** Rokubi's voice was as annoying as ever. **'It's not just **_**any**_** Mizu Bunshin!'**

Realizing what she meant, the woman's eyes widened. How was this possible? Why…

Suddenly a kunai flew from her back, and it went right into the running enemy's back, as she turned into water and Takiri fell hard on the ground.

"Oi, are you ok?" asked Naruto, who was obviously the one that had thrown the kunai, and he had almost reached the woman, when another kunai flew towards him and made him jump back. The blond turned and when he realized that Akai had thrown the kunai, there was something more that confusion in his eyes.

Before the red haired woman could answer his unsaid questions, a dark chuckle made all of them turn towards the person they were supposed to guard.

"Good going there, Hatake," the woman said as she looked up and her with her dark eyes. "But not good enough!"

Akai was startled, when she realized that the last sentence had come from behind her, and didn't have enough time to react when she heard the following words:

"Suiton: Suiro no Jutsu (_Water Prison Technique_)"

In a second the red haired woman realized she couldn't move any part of her body, as the water clone had stuck its hand in the ball of water formed around her could be seen from the corner of her eyes..

She couldn't understand exactly how this had happened. Had she let her guard down? Probably. But now both Naruto and Ken were in a terrible situation, because of her mistake. She had to help them somehow… but how…

The questions wouldn't leave her alone as she was struggling to get free from the prison she was in. The situation seemed really bad – at the last second, before Naruto had been hit, she had managed to lure him away from the woman and now three hardly visible senbon were stuck in one of the walls that were behind the boy back then.

Akai was glad that she had managed to keep him from that, but now it was just as bad as it would have been if it had happened. There was no way for the Jinchuriki to free herself, and on the other hand she had no idea why this was going on.

Rokubi had warned her just in time, though – realizing that the two Chakura signatures – the one of the ninja, carrying Takiri, and the woman herself – were a perfect match, had probably saved the blonds life, but at what cause? To loose it in a battle like this? And the Jinchuriki couldn't even move…

"What's the meaning of this!?" Ken's yell was full of anger, as he turned towards the green haired woman. "Why did you attack sensei…? And even Naruto before that!?"

It figured that Ken would see it. He was a strong Shinobi, after all. Akai was not the least surprised by that, but then again, she had other things to worry about at the moment as well.

Naruto looked thoroughly confused. He looked at the trapped Akai and then at Takiri. None of this made any sense to him. Why would she attack Akai? And why did they say she attacked him? Suddenly his eyes met with the senbon that were stuck at the wall and he realized why Akai had thrown the kunai.

"You're too noisy, brat," the woman said, as she got up and in a second, Ken was dodging senbon that were sent towards vital spots. He took out a kunai and started to block them and did so pretty well.

Suddenly Takiri appeared behind the boy and he hardly had any time do duck under her kick, but yet again, found himself in the way of some of the life threatening needles. He hardly dodged, as they hit him in the left shoulder, in stead his neck, but he realized how heavy his hand had become.

'_From the frying pen and into the fire,'_ he thought, as he understood the senbon had hit a pressure point and now he couldn't move his left arm at all.

The boy rolled over his right shoulder to get sway from her and then stood up to his feet, supporting his unmoving arm with the other one. Ignoring his condition, he prepared himself to defend and dodge, when suddenly a well stopped him.

"Run!" the three of them turned towards the trapped Akai. "Naruto, Ken, run! Get away from here! Now!"

'_Please understand what I'm trying to do,'_ Akai begged mentally and looked from one of the bois, towards the other.

For a second Ken was about to protest, but then it hit him. And it was good it did. He could clearly see his sensei's idea – the Mizu Bunshin were created so, that if they get too far away from the real one, they will disappear, thus if he and Naruto could lure her far enough the one keeping Akai in prison would be destroyed.

Naruto was a different story, though… He really seemed not to understand the situation and it was working entirely in the enemy's favor.

"Are you nuts, Akai-chan!? We can't just leave you here to die!" he yelled back. "We're not going- What are you doing!?"

The boy was forced to shut up, because Ken caught him with his one free hand and started running away. Naruto was trying to struggle against it and in the end, Ken couldn't continue running, as both of the boys fell to the ground. It really was hard, running and carrying a boy your weight with only one arm…

"Stop acting like an idiot!" the dark haired boy hissed, "Sensei obviously has a plan! Just work with it!"

"What kind of plan can!?" both of them were back on their feet, and the blond was just about to say something more, when sharp laughter from their enemy made both of them look her way and move into defense again.

"Nice plan, Hatake. The problem is, that you relied too much on those two," she said, throwing a cocky gaze toward the other woman.

Then, without even the slightest bit of warning, she turned and charged towards Naruto. The blond dodged her punch to the left, and in that moment Ken, who was on his right attacked her with a series of well aimed kicks.

It was too bad that none of them connected, though. The other person dodged without the slightest problem, and then disappeared. Ken immediately pulled out a kunai from his holster and was ready to attack, or defend, when suddenly three hardly visible senbon flew trough the air. Akai's yell did not reach the boy on time as they hit him on the neck, and before anybody could react, the boy hit the ground.

Naruto had no time to do anything else, but stare in horror. Had she really done what he thought she had done? It couldn't be true! This whole situation was so damn familiar to him and he continued to tell himself that everything would work out just fine, like last time.

"That brat's done for, you shouldn't worry about him. I hit a vital spot on his neck. It was a fast and painless death," said the woman, as she smirked towards Naruto. "Now, let's get to the real target."

Anger was starting to burn in Naruto, as he was glaring at the woman who had shown herself. Before he could do anything his eyes started to glow in red, as his pupils turned cat-like. The whiskers on his cheeks were now more visible and his teeth and nails grew larger and sharper.

"Why… why are you after me!?" he yelled, really frustrated.

""It's the first time you've asked a smart question, isn't it?" she said teasingly and after a dark chuckle, she looked right in his eyes. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Wakana Takiri and I'm an elite ANBU captain from Kirigakure no Sato. I was sent here on a mission requested by a person of your village. And that person's request was, to kill the powerful Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Saying the last words, her face became solid and empty from all emotions from anger to satisfaction. But her words affected the Uzumaki in a way she had not expected. His anger grew even more as the Chakura around him started to burn like a fire around his body. There was a fast formation of a seal and a few words.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Fife Bunshins appeared around him and glared at the enemy, before they charged towards her. A few senbon were sent flying at them, as Naruto stepped a few steppes back, before charging at her. The clones disappeared, leaving clouds of smoke behind them and at that second, Naruto jumped from the smoke, a bright blue ball of Chakura in his hand, as he threw it towards the enemy, striking her dead in the chest, as his well cut trough the place:

"RASENGAN!"

Those words brought something back to the woman's mind. A memory from so long ago… and yet it was still as clear as day in front of her eyes…

------------------------------------

_Akai was hardly five years old and the war against Iwa had just begun a few weeks ago. Now the first serious battle was nothing else, but an attack against Konoha. Ninjas were everywhere – both friends and foes. _

_It was all in the color off blood. Even the hair of the running girl didn't differ from the surroundings. Many people were being slain at any second and the liquid that gave life was everywhere, taking it away. Terrible sounds of metal hitting metal, screams of agony and Jutsu callings were the only things that could be heard._

_The little five years old girl was running, as tears were going down her cheeks. She had never seen such things before – so much blood, so much… death…_

_The tears were racing down her young face, as she was trying to get out of the village, wanting to leave behind the terrible place it had become. Stricken with fear and panic, there was nothing else she could do, but run. Run, trying to escape to the only place she knew she could be safe – the Hokage Monument._

_Suddenly a ninja landed in front of the girl. Her shriek could be heard, as he raised his weapon and aimed for her neck. In a second steel cut trough steel and a shining white blade went diagonally though the enemy's chest. _

_The little girl stepped a few steps back and fell on the ground, as the blood flew and landed both on her and her savior. Kakashi's back was all she could see, as he turned a little to look at her._

"_Go to Kaa-san. Now!" the boy sounded as calm as ever. It almost seemed to his sister that killing that person hadn't affected him at the least. The thought itself made her even more terrified._

_Her little body was shaking as she couldn't move. She was still crying, her mouth a little opened, as she stared at the older boy. Suddenly another ninja jumped in front of him and as the boy defended himself with his father's blade, he was kicked to the side and sent crashing into a nearby building. It wasn't a second later when the enemy turned towards the shaking girl, a maniac smile on his face._

_The man charged at her, kunai in his hand, aiming straight to her chest. There was no way to escape from the attack, not for a child like her. She had the feeling that nothing could save her… That it will all end then and there in the middle of Konoha, during one of the worse wars it had ever seen…_

_Suddenly all she could see from her blurry vision was an outstretched arm, coming from behind her, a blue shining sphere in the palm of the hand. In the moment the technique reached her attacker she heard a very familiar voice from her back._

"_RASENGAN!"_

_The blue sphere crashed in the enemy's chest and as he yelled in pain some blood went out of his mouth right on top of the terrified girl. The nest thing she knew, he was far ahead, crashed into a building and somebody was lifting her from the ground._

"_Don't worry. It's all over. He's gone," the girl cuddled in the man's chest, as she was still trembling. _

_Namikaze Minato was holding her carefully in his hands, as he patted her on the head. He was standing in the street, trying to comfort the girl, ignoring the multiple wounds on his body and the blood that was dripping from him. He turned around and saw Kakashi, who was just getting out of the building he had crashed into, a stream of blood coloring his forehead and his silver hair._

_Suddenly Obito landed on his other side and looked at his teammate and at the crying girl afterwards._

"_What happened here?" the boy asked confused._

"_Kakashi, Obito take care of things here on your own for a bit. I'm going to drop off Akai at the monument. I'll be back in a flash," the future Yondaime held the little girl tight, as she had stopped crying loudly and was now sobbing a little on his chest, clearly trying to calm herself down._

_After he received nods from both od the boys, the men moved Akai in a more comfortable position and made a few handseals as he disappeared, leaving nothing but an yellow flash._

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_Appearing in the dimly lighted room, the young Jounin attracted a lot of attention – there were a lot of people there, mostly civilians, who were evacuated to this place, after the attack had begun. It has been hours since then, seeming like minutes to the ninja. Even though, he knew that it wasn't his wounds or the blood he was leaving behind himself, which attracted so much attention. It was the small girl that he was carrying, who was still sobbing weakly._

_He exited the crowded room, only to enter an long and equally crowded hall. He moved around, like he was looking for someone and it wasn't long, before that someone found him._

"_Sensei!" the Medic's voice could be heard, as she ran towards him. "You're in terrible condition! Do you even know how much blood in dropping from you? Come and let me heal you!"_

"_I don't have any time, Rin," he answered, following the girl towards another room that was less crowded. There were mostly women and children there, stating patiently, hoping all of this would end sooner._

"_Akai!" seeing her daughter in the man's arms made Takumi run towards him and take her in herself. "There's so much blood… Is she hurt…?"_

"_Don't worry, Takumi. It's mostly the enemy's blood-"_

"_And yours! Sensei, let me heal you! You're in no condition to fight!" Rin cut the man as she looked seriously at him._

"_I want you to check on Akai," Minato looked at his female student. "Just in case I was a bit too late. And don't worry about me. I'm going to let you heal me… When this fight is over."_

_The brown haired girl was just about to protest, when Akai moved in her mother's arms and turned towards the Yellow flash._

"_Minato-san," she said with a quiet voice, making all turn towards her. "Someday… I want to become a great ninja, just like you, so I can protect other people!" _

_That simple statement made Rin, Minato and Takumi to look at the small girl in surprise and confusion, but then the blond smiled towards her and put a hand on her head._

"_If you're sure you want to, I'd be glad to help you," he said, as he ruffled her hair and then made the same handseals and disappeared from the place…_

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_**Chapter Twelve: Defeated – The End of the Battle**_

_The sphere of Chakura in the blonde's hand crashed right into the woman's chest, but then in front of his eyes she turned into water. He started to look around, trying to find his opponent, as he realized he had completely lost her from sight. That wasn't good. Not at al…_

_**Author's notes:**_

I'm really, really, really sorry! I just couldn't sit and write this thing. Author's block, or whatever you call it . Though I actually realized that it's a lot easier to write the Flashback and I can't explain it oO I didn't even have a good idea what it will be, but I sat in front of the computer and timed it on one breath.

Yey, three reviews Thank you very much for reviewing, you're great, people hugs them. Thanks to you, _**DemonTsunaru**__, for the great review and I will try to read It as soon as possible. I had no free time last week. I can't wait for your chapters, __**Hikari-chan**__ And thanks for reviewing again. __**Sabaku no Yumi**__, thanks for the review. You know how much I appreciate it _

_I'll do my best to keep next week's update on time. I'm really sorry for delaying this one . Well, see you next week, and until then, please review _


	14. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter**** Twelve: Defeated – The End of the Battle**

Silence. For one single moment everything quieted down and that unnerving stillness hung above the place. Not a single sound, a movement could be detected by anyone or anything. Naruto's hand and the Rasengan had somehow stopped in mid action and were now just plain centimeters away from Takiri's chest, as her left hand had caught on his wrist, stopping him just on time.

But that wouldn't really save her though. Not now, when Naruto was so serious. Not now, when she had done that to Ken and Akai, only because of him. The boy was not willing to give up this fight until the very end. He couldn't be. The anger, the fury that was created by her cold words and actions were too much to ignore.

The Jinchuuriki still held the ball of Chakura, as he turned around and tried to kick her. That forced the woman to use her left hand to stop him. It wasn't easy to contain the Chakura for so long, but Naruto was managing it, being as fired up as he was now. Suddenly he switched position again and sent his left punch, flying towards the woman. The only thing she could do was to let go of his other hand, so she can stop the attack. At the second that happened, she appeared to have lost the battle.

The sphere of Chakura in the blonde's hand crashed right into the woman's chest, but then in front of his eyes she turned into water. He started to look around, trying to find his opponent, as he realized he had completely lost her from sight. That wasn't good. Not at al…

It wasn't a moment later, when a hard kick from the back, showed him her position. The boy was sent flying foreword a few meters, when suddenly he realized that the place on which he was about to land, wasn't really ground, but a giant hole. Letting his eyes explore the place further, he realized that there, on the bottom, could clearly be seen the surface of dark water. That wouldn't make the fall less dangerous, though, considering the deadly sharp spikes that could be clearly seen sticking up from the smooth surface of the lake beneath.

The boy had to do something if he didn't want to fall right on one of those, so he suddenly turned around, throwing his hands to his sides, turning his body so that he was facing the place where his enemy stood.

Takiri had a smirk on her face, cocky and plain sadistic, as she watched the boy fly towards his death. It was just a second too late, when she realized that he had turned away and thrown some ninja wire towards her, when she caught sight of the hardly visible shine from the sun, reflected by it. All she managed to do was to put her hands next to one another, palms touched, as the sharp metal line connected with her body, the shuriken attached to it rounding all around the woman, until they stabbed one in her upper right arm and one n the lower left side of her back.

Clenching her eyes in pain just for a second, when she reopened them, she realized there was nothing above the hole. Naruto had completely disappeared and all that could be seen from him was the wire that reached the edge of the hole. She grunted and didn't move her gaze away from there, seeing that one hand was appearing above the edge.

Naruto finally managed to climb and stand on hard ground again, holding firmly the other side of the wire, that was around his opponent. His red eyes seemed mad and for a second he could almost see a small and hardly visible sign of fear in the woman's eyes, but it was quickly blinked away. The blonde didn't care, though, but he had seen by now that a frontal attack would most certainly not do. Yet Naruto would never do something like try to escape, even if he had a better chance than the one before him. One of his friends was captured and the other injured… He felt that he could never forgive her.

As his anger built up once more, fueled by those thoughts, the boy bared his teeth, his expression becoming more raged that the woman before him thought possible. He suddenly did something that she had never imagined, throwing the other end of the wire as far as he could, until it reached the other side of the hole and whirled around the remains of a tree there. He then formed a now familiar seal and growled between greeted teeth:

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Ten more Narutos stood there, with the same anger and hate radiating from every and each one of them. Without the real one even saying something they started one by one jumping on the wire, sliding above the hole and coming to a stop somewhere above the middle of it, increasing the weight and slowly, but certainly dragging her closer to the edge of it. Takiri tried to fight it, but she couldn't keep her ground with the added weight on the wires, her feet sliding on the dusty ground against her will.

By the time the fifth Bunshin had joined the others above the hole, she was just a few feet away from the edge and the real Gennin moved from between her and what was supposed to be her end. He was going around her, running as fast as he could and once he was at his back, he charged forward, trying to push her down what little way there was left, but before he knew it she yelled the words that ruined his plan:

"Nawanuke no Jutsu! (_Rope Escape Technique_)"

As soon as the wire snapped at a few places, she jumped up and the blond was almost sent down himself, his clones falling and turning into clouds of dust at contact with the sharp spikes that were popping out of the dark water underneath.

The Konoha Gennin swung faster than he thought he could and managed to dodge her punch by half an inch, before her foot connected with his stomach and sending him flying to the side. Damn, she was fast!

He wasn't ready to give up, though, baring his fangs at the ANBU as the rest of the Kage Bunshins jumped at her, trying to land at least one punch or kick while the original Naruto was charging her way as well.

With a single kunai in hand, the skilled Mist Nin disposed easily of the Bunshins and sent the weapon flying toward the nearing Jinchuuriki. He jumped to the side and escaped from the weapon, before he was forced to dodge some senbon, one of them scratching the side of his neck.

Things were going from bad to worst, he realized, when she appeared before him and with a properly aimed elbow in the chest forced the breath out of him and then kicked him, sending him a few steps back. The boy was still coughing a little from the hard impact, when he realized that his heels were already over the edge of the hole. But it was too late, for just seconds after that Takiri's food connected with his stomach again, sending him well away from the edge.

'_NO!'_

'**STOP BEING SUCH A WEAKLING!'**

A red flash was all that the green haired woman could see and comprehend, before she was painfully pushed away and hit the ground hard.

Akai's feet met the edge, taking as much grounding as possible, as the redhead glued them with chakra for just a second, until she reached, catching Naruto's ankle with her right hand, before spinning her entire body, sending the boy flying back to safe ground, before she slipped and started falling down.

The last thing the blond realized, before he hit the floor hard and rolled over a few times, was someone grabbing his ankle. It took him a moment to get himself up and look around, realizing that there was no one around except for him and the still shocked enemy. Then his eyes drifted back to the edge of the cliff, when he heard the sound of water splashing and sprang to his feet. Before he could do anything more, though, a breathtaking sight met his eyes.

First he could see only a red light being lifted over the edge. Then, the burning color of the woman's hear came in sight, followed slowly by the rest of her body, rising little by little with every wave of the wings behind her back. His eyes met with the three tails that were situated in the air behind her body as well, before all of his attention was caught by the dark brown eyes that snapped and glared right at him.

In the blink of an eye Akai was before him, arm outstretched and clinging something next to his head. It didn't take him long to realize that what she was holding was nothing more than Takiri's wrist as the Mist Nin was holding three senbons just lightly touching his skin.

"_**You're in the way, Kyuubi,"**_ the dark and unfamiliar voice that came out of the redhead's trough snapped his attention back towards her and his widened red eyes were met by narrowed dark ones, filled with something he couldn't quite give a name to. Excitement, hatred, anger and spite were all mixed up in that cold gaze and he almost shivered at it. He didn't have the chance, though, as that same voice cut him mid-way. _**"I told you to GET AWAY!"**_

A sudden pain cut rough his right side as he realized the Jounin had kicked him, and hard. He was sent flying away for the millionth time, but before he could do anything, he hit the remains of a wall face-first and blacked out, sliding to the ground.

Getting back to her stance, after she had kicked the blond away, the Jounin tightened her grasp on the other's right wrist until a snap was heard and the enemy screamed in pain, trying to get her unmoving hand away from the Konoha Nin.

Despite all of her efforts, Akai's grasp was like iron around her hand and she even went as far as twisting it, sending another wave of burning pain at her enemy. The redhead used the moment to land a hard punch on her face, but instead of letting her fly back, she pulled her towards her by her broken hand and kicked her in the stomach with all she was worth. The painful clash was followed by a swing and the Mist Nin found her back hitting the same wall Naruto had passed out next to. Before she could do anything, though, the long blade of Akai's katana cut right trough her left shoulder and deep into the wall behind her, causing another pained scream to escape her trough.

"_**You think you can just go and **__**kill a Jinchuuriki like that, you little naïve bug!?"**_ Holding more than hate and spite the words were more like growled by the woman standing before her and pushing the katana further into the stony wall.

'_Oh, someone's getting defensive?'_ If she could chuckle in her mind, Akai sure did it…

'**Shut up! This is on a whole different level from your mortal's fights!'** Rokubi didn't keep back the comment.

'_Uh, just stop acting tough and give me back the control over my body!'_

'**Stop bugging me! I'll finish her first!'**

"Wha-what are you!?" their mental quarrel was interrupted by the shaking voice of the ANBU, staring at her with wide eyes.

"_**A demon."**_

The words hanged over the deserted ruins as the Mist Nin couldn't say anything else, because of the hand that cut trough her chest and heart in a single stabbing motion.

--

"Are you sure about this, sensei?" the dark-haired boy was sitting next to a burning fire in the middle of a forest not too far from the ruins. His shirt was put to the side and his unmoving hand was resting in Akai's mercy.

"Just stay still if you don't want me to cripple you for life!" the woman carefully pushed a couple of points with her fingers, before getting the senbon from the ground next to her and sliding it carefully at a certain place on his shoulder.

Managing to keep himself from wincing or moving in any way, the Gennin let her do what she had started and soon realized he could feel his hand. A bit numb, but much better than before. Widening his eyes he looked at her as she slid the needle back out.

"There, better?" the Jounin looked him up and down as he started to move his hand around a little bit.

"Amazing, how did you do it?" Ken was staring at his arm which he had thought had forever given up on him.

"It's just a matter of where you push with the senbon. There are a lot of pressure points on your body which can cripple you, as well as save your life. Or in your situation, almost take your life... You're lucky she didn't really hit those vital points on your neck, or you were a goner. You were saved by mere millimeters!"

"No, no, I know how pressure points and such work, I'm asking how you did it. I never knew you had studied for a medic nin. It is very delicate thing, hitting a pressure point the right way… I thought only medics knew which one to hit… Or those who use senbons since that's their strength."

"Well, no, I haven't studied for a medic… I just know things… I had someone to teach me," the look in her eyes became distant as she was looking at the sky, thinking of that same white haired Oto Nin who had thought her all she knew about human anatomy. "It must be kind of stiff… If it's not back to normal until we're back in Konoha, talk to Shizune, ok? I'm not a hundred percent sure weather I did it properly."

"Sure, sensei, whatever you say," the boy stood up and threw a few punches, stretching his arm and checking if there was too much damage. The redhead watched him silently, until he turned around and yelled towards a figure that could hardly be seen between the branches of the trees in the dark night:

"Oi, Naruto, come down already! It's getting late!" There was no movement in the figure and he sighed took a small stone from the ground and was just about to throw it, when he was stopped.

"Leave him be, Ken," Akai's hand caught his own, before he could throw the stone. "He needs to think about things for a while. All of this was because of him, that's what he's probably thinking…"

"Why was it?" the boy's clear blue eyes stared hard at hers. There was seriousness and question in his eyes… But it was a question he could not answer. She just shook her head a little, before saying:

"You should go to sleep, Ken. We'll probably be starting back early tomorrow," she brushed a red lock of hair from her forehead, looking up towards the lonely boy.

"Is it because of the Kyuubi?" Ken's words, though quieter now, startled her beyond belief. She spun with amazing speed and stared at him.

"Wha- Ho- Whe-"

"Kaa-san told me when she heard I was going on an important mission with him. She thought it was important that I know about it if I would have to rely on him." Looking towards her worried expression, he sighed a little. "Don't get things wrong. I won't get more distant from him, or something. I don't care what he has in his stomach, Naruto is still Naruto. That same hardheaded moron that used to pull pranks in the classroom while I was trying to study," he chuckled and turned around, throwing the stone he was still holding and hitting him properly on the head. The blond turned around and Ken stuck his tongue at him, before yelling again: "Come down, you soap-opera-wannabe! It's getting late!"

Akai couldn't help but smile. Ken was a genius, but he wasn't like the best known geniuses – Sasuke and Neji. No, he was far freer and he had achieved his place by work as well as talent. He wasn't closed in himself, wasn't cold. He had a loving family and a sweet little sister, he had friends and he had a Jounin to look over him. He was probably better off than either of the two geniuses and the redhead saw him going far. Maybe one day he would surpass them both.

"Don't worry about him, Ken. Go to sleep, I'll write the report and then get him down, ok?"

"Hai, hai, I'm going," the boy made himself comfortable leaning against the trunk of a tree close to the fire, before muttering a 'goodnight' and closing his eyes. Akai got her attention towards the scroll in her hands and after a light sigh started writing down everything that had happened. Tsunade wasn't going to like this…

--

Naruto sat on the branch, staring into the dark sky above him, ignorant of the sounds of the world surrounding him. His mind was concentrated over what had happened in the last few hours and he was dwelling in guilt and self hatred.

"The stars are nice tonight," the sudden voice coming from next to him startled him quite a lot and he turned and blinked a few times towards the woman sitting next to him.

"Are (_Huh_)?" his intelligent reply was accompanied by a raised eyebrow.

"Weren't you looking at them all this time? The stars?" Akai finally turned toward him with a small smile on her face. "They're pretty bright tonight, ne?"

"Uh, I guess," the blond looked forward again, causing her to sigh a little, but neither him, nor the Jounin said a word for the upcoming few minutes. Still, he couldn't help but realize how much better her company was making him feel. Even if he had caused that, everything had gone to place in the end, right? Why was he sulking when nothing had happened? Ken was fine, Akai was fine, the Kyuubi wasn't released, so what was his problem?

"Akai-chan…" after what seamed to be forever he broke the comfortable silence and caused her to turn towards him. "Do you know what day it is tomorrow?"

It was the woman's turn to blink at him confused. She was so bad with time…

"Well, not really… I loose track of time really easy, you know," she laughed a little embraced. "What day are we today?"

"9th October," the boy's voice was muttered as he looked down and brought his knees to his chest.

The redhead's eyes widened in realization. So that was why Konoha had been so gloomy lately! She had completely forgotten what time of year it was!

"So, that makes tomorrow your birthday, doesn't it?"

'No, it doesn't!" she blinked at him again as he seamed to grow to a little irritated. "That makes tomorrow the day the Kyuubi attacked, the day the Youndaime saved everyone, the day that demon was sealed in me, but not my birthday! You can ask anyone of Konoha, they'd only say that!"

The corners of Akai's mouth went up in a sad smile. It was really hard to hear him talk like this. No one had to be made to withstand this on his own.

"Don't talk like that, Naruto, I bet that-"

"Nobody cares! I don't even know if Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei would remember it over the fuss of everything else that day!"

"You're not alone, Naruto…" those words made him snap his attention towards her and he observed the way she was staring into the sky. "Do you know the Kyuubi wasn't the only Biju?"

"Uh, not really," he really seamed interested in what she was saying and the woman had to use all of her will to actually say it. And Rokubi wasn't helping at all

**'Shut your mouth before it's too late, baka!'**

_'Stop telling me what to do! I've made my mind!'_

"There were nine demons, at first. They had immense chakra reserves and different powers. Their original form was that of an animal with a different amount of tails – from one to nine. You've met Sabaku no Gaara, ne? His power comes from the Ichibi, just like yours comes from the Kyuubi. In ancient times those creatures were chased because of their power and many of them were closed into vessels like you… and me," that left Naruto gaping at her as the shock almost caused him to jump. "We have the Kyuubi no Kitsune in here," she pointed at his stomach, "And the Rokubi no Washi in here," pointing at her hand the woman revealed the bloody-red seal that was usually hidden there. "Mind reading, regeneration, fire and lightning chakra… None of this is a bloodline. It's Rokubi's power."

"Seriously!? Who? Why…?  
"She sealed herself… from what I've gotten out of her, she was sick of humans trying to seal her and decided to hide herself before everyone could get his hands on her. No one knows about this... but you, so I hope you'll be able to keep this little secret, right?

"Sure, Akai-chan. I won't tell anyone, I promise!" the blond was inspecting her hand with curiosity

"Naruto," before he could do anything, though he was pulled in a hug. "You're not alone." He relaxed in her arms, letting the closeness warm him up, but not more as her sweet voice warmed his heart. He hugged her back and smiled against her shoulder. A small look up from the redhead revealed to her how late it had become and still holding the boy she said quietly, as not to ruin the moment:

"Happy birthday, Naruto."

_Author's notes__:_

_Yes, I actually realize how long it's been… More than half a year, right? I'm sorry, it's just that I had absolutely NO inspiration for this! I couldn't write ANYTHING no matter how many times I sat in front of the computer with the file before me. I don't even know what happened now and how I actually write it, but… I did! And I'll do my best to continue writing this and my other story, but I'd have to write them without a __certain days of posting chapters, because my entire holiday is going to be very short and most of the time I won't be alone, so I don't know how much I'd be able to write down… I'd do my best not to leave any of the FanFicks without a post during that time, but I have no idea when the next chapter would come up. That's enough rambling, I hope you liked this one, it was a pain in the neck to write it . I work better in the late hours of the night…_


	15. Author's Note

Authors Note:

**Authors Note:**

_Ok, I'm doing it again… Damn those notes! And before you get the wrong impression, No, I haven't given up on this story. In fact I've just read it from the beginning to be able to get into the mood to write more and… Man, does this seam strange to me! I can'__t recognize my own writing! I've written this so long ago… So, I've decided to edit the past chapters one by one, before I continue with the next. And don't worry, you won't have to read it all over again, I'll just be editing style, grammar and spelling. No plot changes and no scene changes. I just don't like how I've written it before and I'd love to change some things. _

_Also, I've been thinking about the plot that is about to come and I've completely scratched out some things. I was planning on getting carried away with Ken and the other members of her team, but now I realized that… Well, they aren't the main characters, Akai is. So I've decided to change a lot of things and I'd have to come up with some new situations, so it might take me a while to update. But I will._

_Oh, and there's one more thing. Skadi's reviews made me wonder a bit. I had that declaration of 'no pairings' because at that time I had absolutely no experience with romance /and I still don't have in the real world, but I've read and written a lot now/ so I've been wondering weather you think I should include some KabutoxAkai? Would you like that? I'd make a poll in my profile, so please vote, I need to know what you want – I don't want to loose readers because I decided to change a little of the plot. So please, vote in the poll and if you want to, reread the story as I edit the chapters. Chapters which are already edited will have the following written in the A/N:_

_**Important: I'm currently editing this FF – mainly style, spelling and grammar. I won't be changing anything regarding the plot, so even if you don't feel like it, you don't have to read it from the beginning. Every chapter having this statement is already edited. Thank you for your attention.**_


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